I Thought I Had Lost You
by SGAFirenity
Summary: Something unexpected happens to a team member. Each team member deals with it until someone unexpected shows up on a mission. What will happen when the team finds out the truth of what happened to this character? John/Teyla.
1. Taken

I Thought I Had Lost You

By: Jenni (SGAFirenity)

Rating: PG-13

Characters: John/Teyla, Ronon, Rodney, Elizabeth Weir

Disclaimer: I unfortunately own nothing. If I did, John and Teyla would have told each other how they feel.

Summary: This story occurs sometime after the episode "Vengeance" in season 3. Something unexpected happens to a team member. And because of this unexpected thing, it sends the team into sadness, a depression and each one of them deals with it in their own way. Later on when they finally resume missions they bump into someone that they never thought would see again.

_Added info to the summary: _

A wraith they never thought they would see comes in the picture, causing all the pain that's been happening. He has something unexpected planned and his plan might just work unless the team can stop him in time. If not, Earth may become a new feeding ground for the wraith.

_Author's Note: This is my first John/Teyla story. I did however write a One-Shot for Conversion. If you have not read it, you should because from the reviews I've been getting for it, it's really good._

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Chapter 1 – Taken

In the mess hall you can usually find John's team. Chatting away at the latest news or making jokes about Rodney. Talking about mostly anything, about a mission they just went on or a mission their going on next.

A lot of the time the expedition hears a lot of laughter coming from this table which usually makes everyone else feel good. People usually say "If they can get past the fact that the wraith could come and kill us at any time then we can too."

At this very moment, as usually expected John's team is sitting in the mess hall eating lunch. Rodney with a big tray full of food including: blue jello, his favourite, steak and a massive amount of potatoes. Why he chose to eat so much made no sense to anyone else but him. He always tried to convince them, he needs to eat this much but everyone really doubted it.

Usually the team would finish their food way faster than Rodney so they would be stuck with talking to him with food in his mouth. How delightful? Teyla would always say to John after talking with Rodney during lunch.

Ronon would just ignore it and continue listening to whatever crazy idea Rodney has in store for the base. Could be anything, he wouldn't know because he doesn't understand a word of science jargon.

Usually though they weren't talking anything technical though because John wouldn't allow it. Mostly because he knows no one at their table would understand except Rodney. So really what's the point?

"So John how was sparring today? Did you lose horribly against Teyla yet again?" Rodney asks curious as he stuffs another potato in his mouth.

Teyla smiles at John before he answers, "I did not lose horribly." He looked at them trying to convince them he was telling the truth.

Unfortunately, the look on Teyla's face said it all. As he said what he said she was sitting their shaking her head with a smile. Ronon sees this, "Looks to me, like you did lose horribly."

"Ya, the look on Teyla's face says it all, my friend," Rodney smiles as he notices the defeat in John's eyes.

John lowers his head to the table in defeat, "Fine. You're right." He lifts his head up abruptly, "But it wasn't as bad as usual. I am getting better, am I not?" He looks to his left at Teyla for some help.

She nods, "Yes, you are doing better."

"The question now is how much is '_better_'?" Rodney asks raising one eyebrow trying to keep back his laughter but failing miserably.

John slowly shakes his head. "You know what Rodney, how about you spar with Teyla for once, and we'll see who's laughing then?"

Rodney looks over to Teyla and his smile disappears. Stuttering, "Ugh, you know....I'm.....I'm far too busy to spar. You know....there are things....that I.....well you know....."

"Ha," John's smile becomes wider as he looks to Teyla. "I told you he wouldn't want to spar with you. He's too scared of that fact that you could beat him up but let's be frank who wouldn't be." That cost him a punch to his left shoulder by Teyla. "Ouch," he said rubbing his shoulder. "Geez, didn't you beat me up enough during our sparring lesson?"

She smiles as she shook her head, "If you would just practice you would not get so hurt."

"I don't have time to practice. I have things to be doing here on Atlantis. Someone has to keep this place safe."

"Uh-huh, sure, make excuses. You do realize you are not the only person on this base who keeps Atlantis safe right?" She asks him knowing she's right.

He sighs, and is about to respond when Major Lorne walks up to the table, "Colonel?"

Quickly turning his attention away from his so called friends that just ganged up him, he looks to Major Lorne, "Yes, Major."

"It's your turn." He says thinking John would remember what today is.

Of course John doesn't remember, "What's my turn?"

"To watch over the science team going to P2X-629, I watched them for this last week and now it's your turn, just as we had agreed."

John smacks his head with is hand, "Right. I forgot."

Then Rodney realizes something, "Hey that's the planet I've been working on for the last week." He looks to John with a wide grin, "Won't this be fun working together?"

"Oh ya," he says very non-enthusiastically. "The day just keeps getting better and better."

"So does that mean you're going to take the shift for this week sir?" Lorne asks just making sure.

He sighs, "A deal is a deal."

"Great," he says enthusiastically and with that Major Lorne leaves the table and heads out of the mess hall.

Teyla looks to John, "I am confused. If you did not want to take the post, why did you sign on in the first place?"

He let out a breath, "Because, Elizabeth made me and frankly I figured that we would have had some big mission by now that would get me off the hook."

"I see," Teyla says thinking it would be awful to go to a planet and have to watch scientists figure out what is going on.

"Ya, oh well maybe it will be some big _discovery_ that will lead to something _amazing_." He says trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Why do you do that?" Rodney said noticing how dramatic he was being.

"Do what?" He looks at Rodney sitting across from him.

"Act like you are excited to go when you're clearly not."

John facial expression shifted drastically to a face of boredom and with a monotone voice he says, "Because would you really want me to look like this and talk like this all the time when I didn't want to do something?"

Rodney sees his point and makes a face, "Good point. I suggest you stick with your acting like you want to do something."

"Good call."

*********

Walking through the gate to another planet had always been something cool and fun for John, seeing a new planet, new people, different plant life, different sights. It always amazed him at how different a civilization could be from his. Some they have encountered had lots of technology whereas others were barely living. Still to this day it kind of shocks him at how different civilizations are. And it didn't help that the wraith woke up either.

True it was his fault they woke up but it hasn't stopped him from trying to make it right. To try and kill the wraith was a very difficult task however. To kill even just one wraith took several bullets. And if you didn't have enough bullets....well you probably wouldn't make it out of there alive.

Though, sometimes John would find himself comparing the Wraith to the Goa'uld. From the mission reports he had read about them they were pretty close to being just as bad as the wraith are in this galaxy. The only thing is the goa'uld don't suck the life out of you, they stick a snake-like thing in your neck. Then again what would actually be worse, having the life sucked from you or having to witness all the murderous ventures a goa'uld does through your own eyes? Having to see what the goa'uld does for years and never having a say. Having your life sucked from you seems like a better way to go in the eyes of John Sheppard. So if it ever came down to a choice, he would choose the wraith way. As painful as it would be, it is definitely better than having a goa'uld live in you for who knows how long.

However coming to a planet to sit and watch a bunch of scientists babble on about how_ great _something is or how _amazing _the discovery is, was extremely boring for one John Sheppard. So his mind would drift off to things like comparing the wraith to the goa'uld or wondering what if. Things like: what if he never would have woken the wraith, how would the galaxy be different? Would the Genii be their enemies, or would they be allies? So many things John wondered.

He also wondered things like would Lieutenant Ford still be alive if the wraith didn't wake up? Like maybe because he woke the wraith it was set in stone that one day Ford would die. But is it really his fault that Ford went nuts? No, it's not. It still doesn't mean he doesn't think about it.

And what about Ronon, if what happened to Ford never happened would they have ever met Ronon or would he still be a runner? Would he still be running from the wraith? Thinking that no one was out there that cared, thinking that he was the only survivor of Sateda. Would he ever have found out that he isn't the only survivor of Sateda? Maybe, there was a chance.

What about Teyla? The one person in this entire journey, this entire expedition he, without really realizing it, might just have feelings that he'll never admit. What would happen if he did confess these feelings for her? How would she respond? Would she feel the same? What if she didn't? What then? Would he pretend that he was joking about the whole thing in hopes that she would forget he ever told her? These are the kind of things John wonders.

As if being the military leader of this expedition wasn't hard enough as it is, but having all these questions and thoughts in his head never helped. He always wondered how Rodney ever did it. Being as smart as he is, how does he keep all his thoughts in check without driving himself up a wall? He has always wondered that, and if Rodney ever tells him how he does it, John will surely listen.

John gets up from the rock he's been sitting on and walks over to Rodney, "Hey Rodney, it's been two hours. I'm going to go back to the gate and update Elizabeth on what's going on, okay?"

Rodney doesn't looks from his work one bit and just responds with, "Okay."

"Okay," he says before turning around to head for the gate.

A few minutes go by before Rodney realizes that John never asked him on his progress. How was he going to tell Elizabeth about their progress if he didn't know anything?

Rodney touches his radio, "Radek?"

"Yes, Rodney," the Czech said sounding a little irritated.

"Hey, don't give me that, you could have stayed on Atlantis if you didn't want to come. You just had to say so." Rodney said also sounding a little irritated towards Radek and his complaining.

Radek sighs and says something in Czech before talking again through the radio now very irritated with the interruption, "What did you want Rodney? I'm sort of busy."

"Right, well Sheppard just left to go update Elizabeth but he never asked what we've done so far so I'm going to go catch up with him and give him an update, okay?" He too sounding very annoyed.

"Whatever," is all Radek said.

"Fine, I'm leaving, watch out for Dr. Kusanagi and the others alright?" He tried to sound authoritative without sounding like he really didn't care.

With that he put down his laptop and started as a walk towards the gate but then realized he'd never make it in time if he walked so he began to jog which later turned into a run. Not a very fast run because let's face it, Rodney's not in the best of shape.

Just as Rodney is catching up to John, who is just about at the DHD to dial the gate Rodney hears something familiar. "It can't be," Rodney says quietly as he slows down to a walk.

By the time he realized what it was and where it was headed for, it was too late for him to warn Lieutenant-Colonel John Sheppard to get out of the way. In an instant a dart ripped by Rodney. Lowered a culling beam and scooped up Shepard in a flash of light.

"Oh my god," Rodney froze in place not sure what to do.

Minutes go by before Rodney snaps out of the trance he's in. Instantly he goes on his radio as he heads for the DHD, "Radek, come in," He says hurriedly.

"What is it now Rodney?" He says annoyed at being interrupted all the time. "Do you not realize all the work that has to be done?"

Ignoring everything Radek just said he says quickly, "Sheppard's been taken by a dart. I don't know where it came from because this planet is uninhabited but it did. So I am going back to Atlantis to get a rescue team so that we can save Sheppard."

"Alright, do you want me to get all the scientists back to the gate right now?" Radek said closing his laptop.

"It's probably a good idea. We wouldn't want anyone else to be taken by the dart." Rodney says trying to sound calm. "Hurry though, we don't have much time."

*********

The Atlantis gate begins dialling, "We have an incoming wormhole." Chuck said looking over to Dr. Weir coming into the control room from her office.

"Right on time," Weir looks at her watch. "It's probably John bringing me an update on the science expedition." No one comes over the radio, so she asks. "Is there an IDC?"

A minute later one pops up on the screen, "It's Dr. McKay."

"Lower the shield." Feeling a little confused as to why Rodney would be the one to make the update and not John confused her. One because Rodney is usually the one you can't pull away from technology so easily and two, you'd think John would be bored out of his mind and volunteered to go. So she headed for the stairs.

Just then Rodney came rushing into the gate room looking almost terrified, "We have a problem, a major problem." He said with a look of fear in his eyes.

"What is it?" Weir asked as she made her way down the stairs towards Rodney.

"It's Sheppard," Is all Rodney could say as he looked at Dr. Weir, confusion covering her facial features.

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So there it is. Should I continue with this? **Please leave a review. **I'd like to know what you thought of it. :D


	2. Unexpected

_A/N: From now on I'm going to try and post on a weekly basis. Every Saturday I will post the next chapter. _

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Chapter 2 – Unexpected

"What happened?" Weir asks concern clearly shown on her face.

"A dart.....it came out of nowhere," eyes wide as Rodney looks at Elizabeth. "We need to go after it. Where are Teyla and Ronon? We need to save him." He says hurriedly.

"Okay," she touches her radio. "Teyla, please come in."

"Yes Elizabeth," Teyla answers from the other end.

Weir thinks for a moment making sure to choose her words correctly, "Get Ronon and get suited up. Meet in the gate-room" She looks back at Rodney, "There's somebody who needs rescuing."

Without any questions Teyla does as Elizabeth says and gets Ronon. Both of them confused as to why they would be going on a rescue mission. Who could need rescuing?

As Teyla and Ronon are walking into the gate-room they notice Major Lorne's team and Rodney suited up. "What is going on?" Teyla asks a little confused as to why they would need all this man power.

Weir was about to answer her when Rodney jumps in, "It's Sheppard. He was taken by a dart. We're about to go rescue him."

_What?_ She thinks to herself worry and concern for his safety overwhelming her. "A dart took John?"

"Yes. That's why we need to go now. According to Zelenka there is a wraith lab not too far from the gate. If we want any chance of saving Sheppard we need to go now." He looks back at Weir and nods to signal they're ready.

She looks up to the control room, "Okay, dial the gate Chuck."

*********

Once through the gate Major Lorne takes point making sure that it is safe, that there are no more darts around. "Okay, it's safe. You can come through the gate." He says on his radio.

Teyla and Ronon emerge next, followed by Rodney and the rest of Major Lorne's team.

"Where's the lab?" Ronon grunted not wanting to waste any time.

Rodney looks at his tablet, "It's that way." He points off to the left of the Stargate.

On their way to the lab, something comes to Teyla's mind. "Rodney, why did you come to a planet with a wraith lab on it?"

Rodney continues walking straight as the lab starts to come in view. "We didn't." She looks at him confused. "It wasn't here when we first came here a week ago."

She then looks to Major Lorne, "How is this possible?"

"I don't know," Lorne said clearly as confused as she is at the moment. "We came here a week ago, did a full sweep of the planet and found no life signs. Ever since then, every so many days we have done a sweep to make sure no one has mysteriously appeared on the planet. It's protocol."

"When was the last sweep?" Ronon asks not understanding why they never detected it.

They now approach the lab, each person taking their positions at the entrance. Ronon peeks around the corner and see's no wraith, "It's clear." He whispers to the rest.

Slowly they enter the facility with their guns up and ready for anything that might jump out at them at any time. "Rodney, where is he?"Major Lorne whispers as he looks at him for an answer.

Rodney looks at them sceptically as he looks at his tablet, "Do you really think a wraith wouldn't take out his subcutaneous transmit— Oh wait, it's on here." He says a little too excited. "Um, looks like he's.....that way," he points down one of the corridors.

As they are walking Ronon brings up the question again, "When did you do your last sweep of the planet Major Lorne?"

"Today," they all turn to Lorne confused before looking at the task in hand and continuing on their search. "About an hour before Colonel Sheppard left with the science team. When we did it, there was no wraith lab."

Rodney points down another corridor before Ronon quietly asks angrily, "What do you mean there was NO WRAITH LAB?!"

"I don't know what to tell you. When we came here there was nothing." Lorne whispers as he looks down a corridor to make sure there was no wraith.

"It's awfully quiet sir," one of Major Lorne's team members makes known.

"It's too quiet," Ronon whispers, not liking what's going on.

"This is it," Rodney announces as they approach a door. "Let me just look at....let me see," he fiddles with the control mechanism on the side of the door. It opens in matter of a few seconds, "There we go."

Major Lorne takes point and walks in first; looking around the room he sees no wraith. "It's clear," he announces.

Teyla enters soon followed by Rodney and Ronon. In the room there are many wraith consoles surrounding what looks to be an operating table where experiments take place. They enter farther in and notice something on the table in the middle of the room.

All their faces change expressions drastically as they see what is on the table. Expressions going from hope to horror in a mere second. "It can't be." Someone says. No one knowing who, but they did say what everyone in the room is thinking.

Tears come to Teyla's eyes but she holds them back just in case the sight in front of them isn't true. "Rodney is it....?" not being able to finish the question she looks to him for answers hoping for the possibility that what they see in front of them isn't who they think it is.

Rodney finally pulls his eyes away from the sight in front of them and looks down at his tablet to confirm. The little dot of John's subcutaneous transmitter was blinking practically right next to their transmitters. "It is.....Sheppard." His voice falls as he says Sheppard.

Ronon pushes past them, "It can't be. He wouldn't have let the wraith feed on him. Not without a fight." He gets to the table with the withered up body not knowing what to look for. "It can't be him. I won't believe it."

Major Lorne moves closer as well, "I'm pretty sure it is. This body is wearing his uniform and...." He notices the chain around the neck. Pulling them up with his hand he looks at the dog tags. "These are Colonel Sheppard's dog tags." He looks down, "I'm afraid it's him."

Rodney moves closer leaving Teyla standing back not wanting to get any closer. Not wanting to have that memory of John. A wraith-feed upon body, something she does not want to remember. Having so many people in her life taken by the wraith, her father, mother, friends, she does not want to have the memory of someone she deeply cares for looking like that.

All of a sudden another doorway in front of them leading to the room opens up, a male wraith walks into the room not realizing there were humans in the lab. They all suddenly look at the wraith and open fire.

Ronon reaches for John's body, "Ronon no." Rodney yells out as a stun blast hits Ronon's arm. "We don't have time."

The room begins to flood with wraith coming through the door in front of them. Major Lorne quickly puts the dog tags into a vest pocket as he shot at the wraith with his P-90 as he yells, "McKay's right, taking the body would slow us down and at this rate we might not make it out of here anyway."

Ronon's anger towards the wraith increase exponentially as he gets up from behind the table and blast's the wraith multiple times with his gun. Just as Teyla and Rodney were shooting bullets at them too.

Slowly they make their way out of the room, "Rodney, can you lock it from the outside? Might buy us some time," Lorne asks checking down a corridor next to the lab to make sure no wraith was coming.

In a few seconds after pressing a couple buttons, the door locks. "There, it's done." Just then the wraith alarm is heard.

"We need to hurry," Teyla announces.

They all run for the exit, on the way killing many wraith, not taking any prisoners. For what the wraith did to their leader, their friend, John Sheppard, the wraith deserved to die.

Ronon shooting like a madman, while the rest constantly putting new clips into their P-90's to continue killing more wraith.

After many turns and killing many wraith they find themselves at the exit. Exiting the wraith lab they make a break for the gate. Running as fast as they can, hearing darts coming after them, they make it to the gate and dial it, all the while trying to avoid getting snatched by a culling beam. Once the gate connects Rodney quickly enters his IDC and they all run through the gate.

On the other side Weir comes rushing down the stairs to meet the team. _I hope they got John. _She watches as Rodney, Teyla, Ronon, Major Lorne and his team come running through with.....no John. "Where's Colonel Sheppard?" She asks confused as to his whereabouts.

Nobody wants to answer the question, all feeling sadness none of them could have expected. Finally Major Lorne steps forward knowing that no one else was going to answer, "When we got to the lab.....we found something unexpected."

Weir raises an eyebrow, "What? What was it?"

Not knowing how to say what he has to say he opens up the pocket he put Sheppard's dog tags in. He pulls them out and hands them to Dr. Weir. Her brows furrow as she looks at the tags not wanting to see what they say. Bringing them closer she sees a name on them, _Lieutenant-Colonel John Sheppard._ "I'm sorry," Lorne says sympathetically. "The wraith.....we were too late."

Dr. Weir finally looks up from the tags, "This is all that was left?"

Lorne slowly lets out a breath, "It's all we could bring back. There were too many wraith to bring back his body."

Elizabeth looks to each face, seeing the sadness and pain in their eyes, all of them trying to hold back their emotions. "You can all leave, take a few days off." She says calmly trying not to show the emotion she too is trying to hold back.

With that, Teyla, Ronon, Rodney, Major Lorne and his team all leave the room. First to the armoury they all go to put away their guns and vests, then they all go their separate ways to deal with what happened their own way.

*********

After putting his gun away in the armoury, Ronon headed to the gym to take out his anger on some poor marines wanting to learn some fighting moves.

Anger coursed through Ronon's veins not wanting to deal with his friend's death. He wanted to strangle the wraith that did this to John. Take his knife and cut him up, so he could die a slow and very painful death. Ronon would have made sure too that it was painful.

Many Marines go down without even a chance in hell at beating Ronon. None of them getting a punch in and if they did it didn't hurt him. Adrenaline was being pumped throughout his system, he didn't feel anything. When they did touch him, it didn't last long. Ronon would have them on the ground in seconds.

One of the Marines on the floor gripping his chest finally gets a word in, "Have you ever.....heard of the.....punching bag, Ronon?" He says between breaths as it was hard for him to breathe because he got the wind knocked out of him.

Ronon looks at him anger filled in his facial features, "No! What is it?"

The marine swallows hard trying to get his bearings to speak again, "It's a bag you punch. Most people use it to take out their anger on. I think you should use it, instead of taking out your anger on.....on us."

Ronon looks around the room for something like that, "Where is it?"

The marine closest to it, gets up and shows Ronon, "This is a punching bag. You can hit it as much as you want."

"Great," he moves right to the bag without bothering to help up any of the marines lying on the floor. Bringing his fist back he swings with all his might. Connecting with the back, he feels a slight twinge in his hand but nothing he hasn't dealt with before. "You can leave now." He looks back at them for a moment before continuing his punches at the bag.

Each hit, he felt pain but suffered through it not wanting to succumb to the emotions he was holding in for his friend, his buddy and team-mate. He throws more and more punches, blood appearing on the bag from his knuckles.

Just then someone comes into the room, "Ronon, what are you doing!?" This person comes rushing up and Ronon turns quickly throwing a punch. "Whoa, Ronon, it's me Rodney."

He then realizes who it is, "Oh, sorry buddy. I got caught in the moment."

Rodney notices his bloody hands, "What are you doing to yourself? You know that hurting yourself won't bring him back right?"

"Doesn't matter, he's gone. What else is there to say?" Ronon then sat down against the wall near the bag.

Rodney sits down next to him not too close so that he doesn't get hurt just in case Ronon snaps again. "He was my friend too, you know. We all deal with death differently." Ronon continues staring straight. "I was in my lab pretending like it never happened. Like he was just not here, like he was on Earth or something and that he would be back soon. I didn't..." His emotions get the best of him. "I didn't want to deal with another death." He looks down at his hands, "After Carson.....I didn't want to believe that now.....Sheppard....too was gone."

Ronon still looking straight says, "I've dealt with so much death in my lifetime. First on Sateda, then during the 7 years I was a runner but never in my entire life have I felt this." Emotion building, "Never since.....Sateda when I lost someone dear to me."

"Being a scientist I don't see much death so I can't really compare, but I do know one thing. Since coming to Atlantis I have seen so many things. Death: being something we see a lot of. I never thought that someone like Sheppard would die the way he did but he did. And if I learned anything from him, it was that, no matter what happens, whether it be something bad or good as long as we have each other we'll be fine."

Ronon finally looks at him, "That does sound like something he would say."

"Ya, it's something I'll remember forever" was the last thing Rodney said before they both look straight again. Looking at the piece of wall they have chosen to look at as they sit in silence.

*********

Elizabeth Weir walks down a few corridors until she makes it to one door. Where on the other side, her dear friend would be, no doubt having a difficult time dealing with what happened. Pressing the door chime on the console next to the door, she waits patiently.

In a minute or so the door opens revealing Teyla Emmagan, the leader of the Athosians. "Elizabeth, what are you doing here?"

Elizabeth looks at her noticing the tear stains on her cheeks she tried to wipe away, "I came here to see if you wanted to talk."

"I am fine," she tries to sound alright.

She tilts her head slightly, "Teyla, you shouldn't have to deal with this alone. I know how much Colonel Sheppard meant to you."

Teyla looks at her a little confused at her statement. "What are you talking about?"

"May I come in?" Weir asks not wanting to talk about this in the doorway.

"Of course," Teyla moves out of the way to let her come in.

Weir walks in a sits down on the chair next to Teyla's bed as Teyla comes and sits across from her on her bed.

Weir carefully decides what to say to her question. "I know you try to hide your feelings and you do it so well, like any leader does. So does John, but I can tell how you feel about him. Finding out about his death must be hurting you a lot more than you show."

Teyla looks away not wanting Elizabeth to see the tears, "I do not know what you are talking about."

Weir then realizes something and asks the question she's sure is true, "You loved him didn't you?" She asks noticing the reaction she got from Teyla when she said 'loved him'.

Teyla reacted to the word 'love' instantaneously as a tear fell down her cheek. Realizing that he will never know the truth, never know how she felt for him. Without really realizing it she turned back to her friend and slowly nodded her head, "Yes. I think so."

"Oh Teyla, come here." She gets up from her chair and sits next to Teyla pulling her into a hug.

The contact caused all the tears and emotions Teyla was holding in to open up. Her walls were falling; the facade that she was holding on to was breaking. Her ability to hold in emotions and not express them like a leader usually does disappear.

"It's okay," Weir tries to comfort her friend holding back her tears as well so that Teyla doesn't break down more. "It'll be alright. We'll all get through this together."

"He's gone Elizabeth, he'll never know." She sobs, "I should have listened to Dr. Houston."

"What are you talking about?" Weir asks curious about what this has to do with Dr. Houston, the girl who died from an exploding tumour. _The same day that Carson Beckett...._ Her thought couldn't finish the sentence, not wanting to relive that horrible memory.

Teyla pulls back looking her in the eyes, "When you went on your date with Mike Branton, during our rest day, I went to the gym and trained with Dr. Houston. After, she had said to me that I should just tell him how I feel, but the ways of my people are different. It's the man that makes the first move but....." She looks down, "Now, he will never know because I stuck to the ways of my people instead listening to my heart."

Weir grabs her shoulders and makes Teyla look at her, "Teyla, you can't do that to yourself. You can't blame yourself. It's not your fault what happened to him. It just happened. There's nothing we could have done."

"I know, there's nothing we could have done but I could have told him how I feel..."

"Teyla again, you could never have known this would happen. I know it hurts now, and it probably will for a long time but you have to get through this. When missions resume, go out there and make the world a better place. Save people, just as John would have, help people. Just remember that he will always be with you, no matter what." She smiles hoping that what she said will help Teyla to feel a bit better. Teyla responds with a weak smile but gets the point across that it did help her a bit.

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What did you think of chapter 2? **Please Leave Me A Review. **It would be greatly appreciated to hear what you liked or hated about it. :D

--SGAFirenity


	3. Memories

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: **

Originally my story was just going to be what the summary says, so it would have been something like 8 or 9 chapters. However, recently I came up with a better idea, to add on to what I have. So now it'll be longer and have more point to it. So here is the added info to my summary....

A wraith they never thought they would see comes in the picture, causing all the pain that's been happening. He has something unexpected planned and his plan might just work unless the team can stop him in time. If not, Earth may become a new feeding ground for the wraith.

_Author's Note: I used some scenes from the show and did them from memory, so the words might be a little off but I think it works. _

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Chapter 3 – Memories

When it comes to a memory, a single moment in time, there are those who take them for granted. They think, nothing will happen to that person, so what's the point in relishing in the moment. What's the point in making every single moment last for as long as possible?

Four people stand in the gate room surrounded by the entire Atlantis expedition thinking about these very questions. Thinking about why they never held on to each and every moment that they had with John Sheppard.

In the middle of the room is a casket with an American flag over it. True, the casket is empty because they couldn't bring a body back but even though he's not really there, it's the thought that counts. Plus he deserves it, he deserves a place for friends and family to go and visit whenever they want to. Sure, the Atlantis expedition can only go to Earth sometimes because they are all so busy but at least the idea is still there.

Elizabeth Weir, a civilian, the leader of the expedition stands next to the casket and thinks of some words of wisdom. Something she can bestow upon everyone around her. Some kind words of sympathy for everyone, to help with the death of Lieutenant-Colonel John Sheppard.

After a few moments, words come to mind. She looks to the casket and back to the people in front of her looking at the faces of Teyla, Ronon and Rodney, everyone. Everyone holding back tears, especially Teyla, because she knows what Teyla is going through right now.

She takes a deep breath, "All of you came to Atlantis for different reasons. Most of you came from Earth, like Colonel Sheppard, others..." She looks at Teyla and Ronon. "....came from other planets." She pauses for a moment before continuing. "One of the many things I have learned from John is that we must always trust each other. Be there for each other, no matter what." She looks to the casket and gently places her hand upon it. "We will miss him, we all will." She looks forward, "Someone once said that we must live each day as if it is the last day of our lives. From now on, I will live by these words because it's true we will never know what will happen today.....or tomorrow.....or the day after. We have to live in the moment because it may be our last."

Tears begin to well up but she holds them back. "He was a great warrior, he may not have been as strong as Ronon....or as smart as Rodney but he made up for it in character. He was always so kind and gentle. He always knew who to trust and who not too."

She pauses for a moment remembering a memory she had with him. "I remember this one time, close to 3 years ago when we had just been on Atlantis for a couple hours or so. Atlantis' shield was failing and we were about to be killed by the crashing waves of the ocean. John came through the gate with the Athosians telling me that he needed to go back. He needed to rescue them, not only his people but the Athosians too. People he had just met not too long before. He was willing to risk his life for someone else. And that says a lot about a person. He will always live among us in spirit, just remember one thing: he may not be with us anymore but we can continue on with him by doing and acting the way he would have in situations." She looks back at the casket and whispers, "Goodbye John."

Teyla, Ronon, Rodney, Zelenka and Major Lorne take that as their cue and make their way to the casket, each one grabbing a handle on the side of the casket. The gate is dialled to Earth while they are doing this. Once the wormhole connects they make their way through the gate.

********

A couple hours go by before they return to Atlantis back through the gate from Stargate Command. Each one of them goes their separate ways.

Rodney went back to his lab after changing out of his suit and back into his base uniform. He and Zelenka both went to their lab but Radek knew that Rodney wanted to be alone so he left to go work on a jumper.

Sitting at his desk he fiddles with some numbers and equations trying to understand more of the equations he came up with when he was going to ascend. "This is useless," he yells out frustrated as he throws down his pen on the desk. "I can't make heads or tails."

"Ugh," he leans back in his chair stretching. Then a memory came to mind,

"_Concentrate on your breathing," John says soothingly. "Imagine blue skies, your floating, all your worries go away." _

_Rodney lies still for a moment. "Concentrate on my breathing. Okay I feel relaxed." He wakes up abruptly, "What is it at now?" _

"_It went up," John answers. _

_Rodney sighs in defeat, "Oh, this is useless." _

"_Rodney, you have to relax. You can't do this if you're worrying all the time. Now come on, let's try this again." _

"_Fine," He lies back down, interlacing his fingers and resting them on his chest. "I'm concentrating on my breathing. Thinking of blue skies, I'm floating around, not thinking about my impeding death." Again he abruptly wakes up, "Oh my god, I'm going to die. I'm going to die—"_

"_Rodney! You're not going to die." He reassures him. "Now try again." _

_Getting back into his comfort zone he thinks about the blue skies again, "I'm floating—"_

"_No talking." _

_Rodney opens his eyes and looks up at John, "But not talking makes me nervous." _

_John looks at him, "Come on Rodney, you can do this." He says with confidence. "I believe in you." _

A smile appears on Rodney's face, "I _can_ do this." He looks back at his computer screen with more confidence than before.

*********

Back in the mess hall, Ronon sat at a table eating lunch. He too has been remembering past memories he shared with John Sheppard. His friend, someone he has trusted for about a year and a half now.

_Standing out on a pier next to Sheppard as he swings a golf club, Ronon says, "So all you do is hit a little ball as far as you can?" _

"_Well there's more to it than that. There are all different types of courses with many different sand traps and water hazards." John says trying to explain the game of golf. _

_Ronon walks up to the green with a golf club, "So this is a big water hazard?" _

"_I guess. Well actually no," Ronon looks at him confused. "I mean we don't have a course set up yet. Right now all we can do is..."_

"_...hit a little ball as far as you can." Ronon says making his point. _

_John sighs in defeat, "Ya I guess." _

_Ronon holds out the golf club ready to hit the ball. He swings the club, holding it with one arm. The ball goes sailing across the sky. _

"_Wow, you can't even see where it landed." A guy standing behind them says. _

_John looks back at him glaring as if to say 'Rub it in, why don't you.' He looks back at Ronon, "It's more of a game about accuracy." _

"_Okay, tell me where to hit it and I'll hit it there." Ronon says getting bored of this game John loves so much. "You know I have a better idea for us to do." With that Ronon puts the club away and exits the room. _

_John looks at Ronon as he leaves and tries to swing the club like Ronon did. His ball went somewhere but not even close to as far as Ronon's went. _

......

_In the gym, Ronon gives John a piece of cloth, "Okay, so the point of the game is to try and grab the other guy's cloth first?" John asks to make sure. _

"_Right," he smiles knowing this is going to be easy. "Ready?" _

"_I guess," he says holding his bantos stick up in the ready position waiting for Ronon to make his move. _

"_Go," Ronon swings at John, taking no prisoners and hitting him in the gut making John bend over as he grabs the cloth. "That's one for me. Round 2," He lifts up his leg. _

_John notices this, "You have got to be kidding me. Why can't we wait until I get better at Round 1 before we move onto Round 2?" Ronon looks at him thinking John must be scared or something. "Okay, fine, Round 2." He lifts up his leg._

_Again with no such luck John loses once again, falling onto the ground yet again. Getting up John looks at Ronon who lifts up his leg and puts an arm behind his back, "You have got to be kidding me." _

"_It's supposed to simulate battle. You never know what injury you might encounter on the battlefield." Ronon looks at him raising an eyebrow._

"_I think this is just an excuse for you to kick my ass." He sighs again, "Here we go," he raises his leg and places his arm behind his back. _

_Yet again, Ronon kicks his ass. John is lying on the ground again, "Okay, I think I have a better idea for us to do. Help me up." As soon as Ronon does John hits him on the arm with the bantos stick. _

"_Ouch," Ronon says rubbing his arm. _

_John smiles as he gets his revenge, "Hurts doesn't it?" _

Ronon laughs at the memory. He then hears someone comment, "What's so funny?"

He looks up to see McKay. "I was just thinking about a time John and I shared."

Rodney smiles, "I thought of a memory too. Then I felt a little hungry." He places a tray of food on the table across from Ronon.

"Do you ever stop eating?"

He looks up from his food not quite hearing the question, "Hmm?"

Ronon just shakes his head as he goes back to eating his food.

*********

Teyla has been lying on her bed staring up at the ceiling for the last couple minutes thinking about a moment that she and John shared not too long ago. In that moment, it could have gone so differently if she would have stopped hiding her feelings.

_Sitting on the infirmary bed and John standing next to her, he looks back at her as Elizabeth leaves the room. "It doesn't break my heart." _

"_He only did what you or I would have done." _

_His brows furrow, "Are you kidding me? He held you hostage and almost got both of us killed."_

"_He tried to save his people, and he succeeded....through you." She says trying to convince him that what Jamus did was right. Even though she knows that how Jamus went about doing it was wrong, he was only trying to save his people. _

_He looks around sort of agreeing with her. "It's not the reason I did it." He raises his eyebrows as though he's trying to say something more. _

_She smiles, "I know," thinking she knows what he is 'trying' to say. _

_He then covers up his feelings, "Don't go feeling special now. I'd have done it for any one of you." _

_Her smile becomes wider, "Of course."_

_He turns to leave, "Except for maybe McKay."_

"_Yes, I think even for Rodney." She yells after him. _

"_Maybe," he says in defeat. _

A smile appears on her face remembering that moment. A moment she wished could have gone differently.

What if it had? What would have happened? Would it have ended up differently? How would John have responded if it did in fact go differently?

She thinks back to it again, and thinks about what she could have done differently, what she could have said instead or what he might have said in return.

"_It's not the reason I did it." He raises his eyebrows as if he's trying to say something more. _

_She smiles, "I know." He's about to respond when she cuts in again, "I know what you are trying to say.....and I feel the same." _

"_You do?" He wonders out loud. _

_She nods, "Yes, I do." _

"_Really, you feel hungry too?" He laughs a bit. _

_She shakes her head as a bit of a smile appears on her face, "That is not what I meant." _

_He looks at her looks at her wondering, "Then what did you mean?" _

"_I mean to say that....I....." She doesn't quite know how to say this. _

_He looks at her for an answer, "Yes?" _

_She decides to just come straight out with it, "I love you. I have for some time now." _

_The reaction she got from him was the complete opposite to the one she thought she would get. A smile appeared on his face. _

"_I love you too." _

_Her smile grew as they stared at each other for what seemed like ages. _

Teyla opens her eyes a smile still there but dwindling, "I wish it would have gone that way. Then he would have known how I feel about him."

*********

Moments later Teyla feels the need to eat because dream John mentioned food so she heads for the mess hall to grab a snack. When she gets there she hears laughter. Making her way up the stairs she finds Ronon, Rodney and Elizabeth sitting at a table laughing.

"What is going on?" Teyla asks confused at what they could be laughing about.

Elizabeth regains composure first and responds, "Oh, we're just remembering all the funny moments that we have shared with John. Would you like to join us?" She asks as Rodney imitates John's voice.

"I would like that," she takes a seat across from Elizabeth next to Ronon.

At first she just listened and laughed at all the various funny things that John has said or done to the other team members before bringing something up.

"I remember about 2 years ago when I was teaching John some stick-fighting. He never had a chance, I kicked his butt." Teyla says laughing at the memory of him losing to her.

Ronon smirks, "I've beat him several times. It never seemed to get old."

From then on, all four of them reminisce on the various times they spent with John Sheppard. Most of them being funny little things he did, but some of them brought up emotions.

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_Author's Note: The scene I used for Teyla's memory is the scene that actually gave me my inspiration for this story._

**Please leave a REVIEW. **Tell me what you thought of it. What did you like, (or hate)....it would be much appreciated. :D

--Jenni


	4. Toonrysa

_Author's Note: Sorry guys, I was going to post this yesterday but the site wouldn't let me upload it. Now it's up YAY. _

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Chapter 4 – Toonrysa

After taking a few days off from missions to remember John for the person that he was, missions finally resume. Not that anyone wanted them too, but they did.

Teyla, Ronon and Rodney have been dreading this day ever since that moment that they learned that John was dead because they knew that he would be replaced. That someone new would take his place as leader of their team. No one could ever replace John but it is still hard.

Elizabeth Weir told them that Sergeant Mason was just coming along to be trained but they knew that that was just a nice way of saying John needs to be replaced. So they allowed it because they too knew that this day would come.

Sitting in the briefing room, Rodney is talking about M6X – 412, the planet they were getting ready to go to. "Now from what we can tell from the malp, the people living on this planet are not a threat."

"So you're saying we might have a chance to trade with them?" Weir asks hope in her voice.

Rodney nods, "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Weir looks to Teyla and Ronon, "Teyla, Ronon, do you have anything you want to say?"

Teyla looks up from the desk and over to Elizabeth sadly, but doesn't respond. Ronon notices the look in her eyes and decides to speak for once, "I think we're good. Let's just go."

Elizabeth nods in agreement, "Okay, you have go. Oh and Sergeant Mason, make sure you pay attention, I want you to know how things are done, alright?"

He nods towards her, "Yes ma'am."

Moments later they all arrive in the gate-room in their vests holding P-90's. The gate establishes a wormhole and they step through without hesitation.

"Wow, this is a nice town. Best one, we've seen in a long time," Rodney says trying to lighten the mood.

The streets were paved with houses lining down every street. It looked a lot like any old street on Earth, with children playing in the yards, and people driving their vehicles around. More like some kind of flying car because from the gate you could see a floating island up in the sky.

"What do you suppose that is?" Teyla asks curious to know how it is possible for an island to float like that.

Rodney looks up, "I don't know but these people sure are high-tech. I wonder how they got to be so advanced." He looks down at Teyla, "Didn't you say the wraith step in before this kind of technology is created?"

Still looking up, "That is what I always thought but now I doubt what I have known for so long." She looks down at Rodney, "How do you think they do it?"

"I don't know," he says puzzled.

Then some people walk up to them, "Hello there."

They all look down and at the person standing in front of them, Rodney steps in. "Hi, my name is Dr. Rodney McKay, this is Teyla Emmagan," he points at Teyla, "Ronon Dex," points at Ronon, "and finally Sergeant Mason."

He bows his head a bit, "I am President Marcus Detree, welcome to our city." He says very cheerful. "What brings you to Toonrysa?"

Rodney cuts in, "Um, we're travelers seeking trade partners. Would you be interested in sharing your technology?"

President Detree looks over to his right man and whispers something before turning back to look at them, "We would be honoured to share our technology with people from another world. Please, come with me."

They all look at each other, before falling Detree.

After a few moments, "Where are you taking us?" Ronon says getting very impatient.

"We are walking to the closest transporter. Unfortunately when we built our great city many years ago we never thought the great ring would bring anyone so we didn't see the point in building a transporter any closer." He says as he walks closer to a vehicle-type looking thing.

Rodney gets closer, "Transport to where exactly?"

He looks up, "There," he points to the island above. "It is where our government is and where most of our information on our technology is."

"Hm and how does this transporter work exactly?" Rodney asks curious to know more.

The president smiles at his curiosity. "You are scientist aren't you?"

"How did you know?" Rodney asks confused now.

"I can tell when I see a scientist, because I myself am a scientist. I think you and I will get along quite nicely." He smiles. "Now come along, we need to get into the transporter."

The president opens the door to what looks to be an SUV and they all climb in with the president getting into the driver's side. He presses some buttons, and then grabs a hold of the two joysticks. "Okay and we're off."

"I'm guessing that by the way you are using those joysticks that one must control the turning and the other how high or low you go?" Of course Rodney had to ask.

Without turning to face Rodney he says, "You are correct Dr. McKay. The speed comes from the sensor pad we have installed below. These other buttons adjust different things. For instance if I were to be driving it on ground I wouldn't need thrusters. Things like that."

They continue on their ride up listening to McKay ask various questions about the ship/vehicle until they arrived on the island.

"I have another question how does this Island float like this?" Rodney walks right next to the president as everyone else followed behind.

"We have these um....batteries I guess you could call them that we use to make it float. Now come this way to the great hall where we may discuss more technology."

*********

Back on the planet a man comes rushing into one of the garages about ten houses from the Stargate. "James! James, where are you?" He asks hurriedly.

Another man pops up from under the vehicle, "What is it Linn? Can't you see I'm busy?" He says quite annoyed with the disturbance.

"You told me to tell you if anyone ever came through the gate."

"Someone came through the gate?" James gets up from under the vehicle and stands up, "How many?"

"Four: a very tall man with weird hair, a woman, a military man and a man who looked to be very obsessed with our president. Asking him various questions about this and that, I don't even know—"

"Where'd they go Linn?" James walks past him out onto the driveway looking for these newcomers.

Linn walks over to him, "They went up to the island to talk with the president."

He looks at him eyes wide, "Really?" Quickly he puts down his gloves, "I have to go talk to them." Without waiting for an answer from Linn he starts walking.

Linn runs up in front of him, "Wait, you can't leave me. We need to finish our work. How else am I going to get to work tomorrow? Remember the pod; you broke it this morning." He says anger in his voice.

"I'll fix it later, right now I HAVE to go speak with them," he tries to get around Linn but he doesn't move. "If you don't get out of my way, I'm going to hurt you." He says threateningly.

Linn moves closer to him, "Do it. Try and hurt me, you know I can take you." His eyebrow raises in question. James backs down, "I didn't think so."

"Fine, I'll help you fix it then I get to go talk to them, deal?" He puts out his hand.

Linn shakes it, "deal."

They both walk back into the garage and continue fixing the pod. All the while James is keeping an eye on the road knowing that the newcomers will have to go by the house to get to the gate.

*********

Walking into the great hall, the team sit at a large table in the centre of the room. The President sits at the end while McKay sits to his left, Sergeant Mason next to him, Teyla across from Rodney, to the right of the President and Ronon sitting next to her.

"Now that we are all comfortable, what more would you like to know about my people?" He asks politely.

Before Rodney could say anything Teyla answers, "I have a question." President Detree looks to Teyla. "How is it that the wraith have not culled your people? I do not want to sound cruel or anything but for as long as I can remember I have been told that when a civilization begins to get advanced the wraith step in and cull them. How is it that your people have gotten so advanced and yet this has not happened?"

"That is a good question. Many years ago, my people came across a device on this very island. A device that could essentially, hide our people from the wraith."

Rodney looks at him confused, "How?"

"At first we could just hide our city but the wraith still came, culling all the other cities so we adjusted it to cover our entire planet. We first thought that it just made us invisible, but one time they fired upon us.....nothing happened. Their weapons just went right through us. My scientists and I have been trying to figure out why it does this but we haven't had much luck."

"Out of phase," Rodney says under his breath.

President Detree sees McKay say something but doesn't quite catch it, "What did you say?"

Rodney looks at the President, "A couple months ago, one of our people from our planet, Colonel Samantha Carter, she was part of a development for a device that could demolecularize matter and transport it to another dimension. See according to M-theory, there are a fixed number of alternate dimensions existing in parallel with our known universe. The multiverse theory, on the other hand, posits the existence of an infinite number of alternate universes, each evolving concurrently with our own. In simple terms she would go 'Out of Phase'. I think that's what your device does. Essentially you're still there but you're in another dimension running alongside your dimension."

The President begins to understand and adds on, "That's why the wraith weapons went through us, because even though we were still there we weren't. Is that correct?"

"Exactly, you have a device that takes you out of phase. That's incredible." He looks over at Teyla, "We definitely need to inform Elizabeth about this. If we can figure out a way to reverse-engineer this technology we would never have to worry about the wraith getting to Earth through Atlantis."

"Does that mean that we could use it to protect other planets as well?" Teyla asks curiously.

Rodney thinks for a moment, "Maybe. That is _if_, and I mean _if_ I can figure out a way to reverse-engineer it. But this is me we're talking about so I probably could do it." He says relishing in the fact that he's so brilliant.

From then on Rodney asks direct questions about the device trying to figure out if it is indeed possible to reverse-engineer the device.

*********

After a long discussion about the device and other things they headed back to the planet needing to update Weir on the situation. The President didn't get into details about all of their technology only some just to make Rodney calm down with the questions and to get them interested in them.

As they are heading back to the gate Rodney continues prodding with questions about this and that. On the way they pass by James and Linn's house.

James sees them in the corner of his eye. He quickly runs out on the driveway and sees them walking towards the gate. Running back in he says, "Okay, they're leaving, I'm going to go talk to them right now okay?"

Linn gets up from his seat, "No, we had a deal James. You said you would help fix my pod before going to speak with them. It's not fixed so you can't."

James looks at him like he's some kind of idiot, "Linn, the pod is fixed. You've been sitting there for the past 5 minutes staring at the tool box."

"No I haven't, I've been working. You're the one who's been doing nothing." He walks closer to James.

"_I'm_ the one doing nothing. Ya, right. I'll prove it to you," He walks closer to the pod and opens the door to it. "I'll test it and show you that it is fixed." Getting in he starts the engines, "See, it works. I'll even drive it to the gate." He backs it out of the garage and onto the street.

Linn comes racing out of the garage and stands next to the car, "James, there is a big difference between starting the engine and actually getting it to go anywhere."

"Did you not see me just pull it out of the driveway? It works fine." He says a matter-a-factly.

Ronon then notices these two guys battling it out, "Hey Teyla, do you see those two guys over there?" He points down the street. "Looks like they don't agree on something, it could get nasty."

Teyla looks over to the two guys, one in the pod and the other on the street next to the pod. "I wonder which one will win the argument?"

Back to the guys battling it out in the street, Linn chimes in, "There is a HUGE difference between getting the pod to move a little and actually getting it to stop. Do you not remember the fact that, that is what we are trying to fix, is the brakes? You broke them remember?"

"I did not break them, you put them together wrong. It's not my fault that they failed on me. And besides we decided that YOU were going to fix them." James says getting extremely annoyed.

"No, I remember you saying you were going to fix them because of my crappy job the first time."

"Well then we better hope that the brakes are fixed or this could turn out really bad and it'll be your entire fault."

With that he drove off not waiting for Linn's response. He drives down the street getting closer and closer to the gate, "Okay, ease up on the throttle." He does so, "Check, its working fine, now the brakes....." He tries but nothing happens, "Oh no.....they aren't working. This is not good."James looks up at the gate getting closer and closer. "What should I do?"

Linn walks towards the gate as James drives off and watches him as he goes. "Hm, it looks like James may have been right, looks like the brakes are working." Then he notices the driver's side door open and James jumps out of it. "Oh crap," he watches as the people at the gate scatter to the sides as the pod goes up the stairs and just through the gate. Luckily it wasn't activated. He jumps into a running pace to get to James.

Rodney helps the President get up, "Are you okay?"

"Yes I am fine. Thank you Dr. McKay."

"Shouldn't we do something about that?" He points to the pod still moving along the road past the gate.

He shakes his head, "No, this happens a lot with these two. Ever since James joined our city not too long ago, things like this have been happening a lot. We've just kind of gotten used to it."

"Oh, I see."

James gets on his feet slowly. Rubbing his right arm he finds a cut running from his wrist to elbow, "Ouch that hurt!"

Linn finally gets to James, "You idiot! I told you it wasn't ready but _no_ you _had_ to test it AGAIN!!! What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have some sort of condition I don't know about?"

James shakes his head, "Hey, don't put this on me. YOU'RE the one who didn't fix the brakes like we agreed. This is your fault!" He says sounding very angry.

"No, YOU didn't fix the brakes! This is YOUR fault!"

They continue arguing without realizing that Ronon and Teyla walked up behind James. "Hey!" Ronon says sounding very angry for the vehicle almost killing him.

James turns abruptly angrily since someone is interrupting his argument, "What?!"

"Is there a problem...?" Ronon's words fade out as he looks at James completely shocked and confused.

A smile appears on James face, "I was right."

Both Teyla and Ronon's facial expressions go blank, showing nothing, not knowing what to say.

Tears well up in Teyla eyes as she finds one word she never thought she would ever say again, "John?"

* * *

What a twist eh? **Please Leave a REVIEW. **I want to know what you thought about this crazy chapter.


	5. Runner

Chapter 5 – Runner

The wraith kill people, it's in their nature, more like they have too to survive. So why did one wraith come to a planet that is uninhabited? What's the point? They need humans to survive, to live, to continue living, so why? Why take all that time to fly to one planet where there are no humans? No humans to feed on, no human worshippers, just a planet.

A planet that was uninhabited until John Sheppard and the science expedition came through the gate to explore.

John Sheppard was culled right in front of Dr. Rodney McKay's eyes. And when they got to the ship, they found his body, it was drained of life. If this is true, how is John standing right in front of Teyla and Ronon in the city Toonrysa? How is this possible?

Going back, back to when John was culled, let's see what happened. What _actually _happened to John Sheppard?

*********

John slowly opens his eyes feeling like he was stuck with pins and needles. A feeling he has dealt with many times before because of the wraith stunners. Slowly he eventually gets his eyes open and looks around the room. He sees organic walls and wraith consoles around the room. He tries to move but he can't, his arms and legs are tied to the table he is lying on. "What the hell?"

All of a sudden a door in front of John opens and reveals a wraith, "You've finally awakened and just in time."

John looks at him confused, "Time for what?"

The wraith smirks as he walks past John to a console on John's left, "Time for the show." He presses a button and what looks to be some sort of image or video appears on the console just to the right of John.

He looks at it curiously not seeing anything at first but then the door opens to the room that the camera must be in. Someone walks in the room, "Who is that?" He whispers wondering who that could be.

"Do you really not know?" The wraith asks from beside John with a slight grin sowing some of his pointy teeth.

Another person walks in, followed by two more people, than he realizes who it is. "It can't be." He looks at the wraith as he smiles at John. "That's my.... That's my team in there. Teyla, Ronon, Rodney, even Major Lorne, but......why are they in there?" Then he notices something about himself. "Wait a minute, where are my clothes I was wearing?"

The wraith laughs beside him, "I switched them out. Before I sucked the life out of him in there, I got him to switch clothes with you."

John then notices the cut on his left arm, "My transmitter." He whispers under his breath.

"Yes, I took that out too and your necklace and your thing that displays numbers, I put them on the other body. So that it would lead them straight to you.....more like him but they think it's you and that's the whole point. You humans think we are brainless, and for some wraith that may be so but I am a scientist I'm supposed to think this way." He looks back at the screen. "Look at that, I think they have discovered that it is in fact you."

John looks back at the screen.

"_It is.....Sheppard." Rodney's voice falls as he says Sheppard. _

_Ronon pushes past them, "It can't be. He wouldn't have let the wraith feed on him. Not without a fight." He gets to the table with the withered up body not knowing what to look for. "It can't be him. I won't believe it." _

_Major Lorne moves closer as well, "I'm pretty sure it is. This body is wearing his uniform and...." He notices the chain around the neck. Pulling them up with his hand he looks at the dog tags. "These are Colonel Sheppard's dog tags." He looks down, "I'm afraid it's him." _

"How can you do this? Why not just kill me and get it over with?!" John raises his voice, anger coursing through his veins as he sees his team suffer a loss that isn't even real.

The wraith chuckles, "If you were dead, my plan would not work. Now would it? I need you alive," he looks at the screen again before looking back at John. "That is......until we kill you."

"If you're just going to kill me, why not do it now?"

"Human, you don't understand I need you. I need you for my plan. True you will die but that is beside the point." The wraith notices Ronon reach for the body. He concentrates on his wraith and tells them to move in. "At this very moment, wraith are moving to their position. They won't kill them because I need them to take back the information to your leader. This is the only time we won't kill your people unless you do not co-operate with me."

John looks back at the wraith wanting so much to break out of these straps and kill the wraith next to him. "Why would I co-operate with you? Give me one good reason!" He says with clenched teeth.

A smile appears on the wraith, "If you do not, I'll kill your people. I will bring them here in this very room and suck the life out of them right in front of you."

"What if I wait until my people go through the gate, then what? How will you kill them then?" John says knowing he can't do anything.

"Then I will send a message to every ship in the galaxy that Atlantis still exists. Hundreds of ships will head for the city of Atlantis. Do you really want that? Do you really want to be the reason all your people die? Now, stop stalling human, you either do as I say or I kill all of your people. The choice is yours."

John looks from the wraith back to the screen watching as his teams makes it safely out of the ship. "Fine, I'll do it."

"I knew I could rely on you. Now I'm sure you are familiar with our little game we play." The wraith looks at John.

"What game?"

"The game where we take humans and put trackers in them so we can hunt them down." He says with a smile.

"Runners," John whispers.

"Yes, I believe that is what you pathetic humans call them. My fellow wraith and I want to know just exactly how a human of your kind works. How do you operate in these kinds of conditions?" He looks to the doors as four wraith drones walk into the room. He grabs a needle and injects it into John. "Turn him over; we need to implant his tracker."

The drones come over and undo his straps. John tries to move but is unable. "What the hell is in that stuff?"

They flip him over on his stomach and rip open the top of his shirt so that the wraith can get the tracker in. "Just a little something to make you co-operate with me."

John looks to his right and sees the wraith pull out a little device, "Is this going to hurt?"

"Yes."

"A lot," he asks trying to sound funny.

"Yes!" The wraith says getting impatient.

"This drug you gave me isn't for the pain I'm about to experience?"

"No! It is not." Then the wraith takes his knife and cuts a line just below his neck and inserts the device into Sheppard's back as he yells out in pain.

The pain is too much, John ends up going unconscious. "Get him out of here. We'll drop him on the next planet we go by."

The drones pick John off the table and take him to a cell.

*********

Hours later, John finally abruptly awakes. He sits up abruptly, it takes a few minutes for his eyes to re-adjust to the light and then he looks around him. "Where am I?" He looks around seeing trees. "They left me on a planet. Why?"

He gets up quickly and begins searching his person to see if maybe he has any kind of weapon or if he still had his IDC. No such luck. It figures that if the wraith found his transmitter it wasn't that big of a surprise that the wraith also found his IDC and radio. "Okay, so I can't just contact Atlantis to send a doctor to get this tracker out of me." He then feels just below his neck and can feel where the tracker was put in.

He looks around his surroundings, "Okay, I have to find the Stargate first. Then I'll figure out where to go from there."

Going at a run pace at first he begins to notice that the gate must be much farther from where he began than he thought. He hears a sound from the bushes ahead and immediately jumps behind a big tree. Quietly he peers around the tree to see a wraith, "Oh no, a wraith." He whispers to himself. _I better go a different way. _

He turns a different direction and sneaks away from the wraith. "That was a close one." He continues on, having no idea where the Stargate could be.

After what seems like hours as the sun goes down he finally reaches the Stargate. "Okay, I have to gate somewhere." He thinks for a moment, "Okay, New Athos is definitely out. Teyla's people have dealt with the wraith long enough, no sense bringing the wraith back to their doorstep. Um....think Sheppard think," He hits his head with his hand.

Then he hears something again, _I have to dial an address, doesn't matter which one_. He quickly dials one of the planets he knows is uninhabited.

A few minutes pass before the 7th chevron locks in place and a wormhole is established. Without any hesitation he heads for the gate at a run.

*********

Once on the other side, he ends up falling down a hill, a big hill. Head over heel he rolls down the hill only to slam into a rock right at the bottom. "CRAP!!!" He yells out in pain but tries really hard not to scream. "Why didn't I notice the hill?" He looks up at the gate. "What idiot decided to put the gate there?"

As he stands up he falls back down in pain as he realizes he must have twisted his ankle when he hit the rock. "This is a problem." He looks around for any kind of shelter and sees a cave not too far from the gate.

Slowly but surely he hops to the cave, tripping along the way on twigs and rocks. Eventually he gets to the cave and lies down right in the opening. However he is far enough in the cave to be hidden so that if a wraith were to look at the cave from the gate they wouldn't see him. But not too far in so that whatever is in the cave wouldn't care.

After some time he eventually gets a little fire going as the sun goes down on this planet. He did find some berries while looking for some firewood. They look to be close to the raspberry on Earth so they should be good. However the berries didn't fill him that much so he is still quite hungry but what is a guy to do when he can't exactly walk very well and its dark out.

John leans back against the cave wall and begins to think about his team. How they must be reacting his _'death'_ right now. He wanted so much to just dial Atlantis and tell them he was not dead, that the wraith tricked them but he can't. He doesn't have a radio to communicate or an IDC to prove it's him, so how is he's supposed to get there? He could easily go to New Athos, I'm sure Teyla would suggest it but then he would bring the wraith to them and they would have to relocate again. There was no way he was going to do that to her people.

"Teyla," he says out loud without realizing it. "She must be so broken up about this. Thinking I'm dead. They all must be." He looks out of the cave at the sky and sees stars.

His mind drifts to a moment him and Teyla had shared not too long ago. The very moment he should have said what was on his mind but instead he hid it.

_John looks at Teyla on the infirmary bed, "It doesn't break my heart."_

"_He only did what you or I would have done." _

_His brows furrow, "Are you kidding me? He held you hostage and almost got both of us killed."_

"_He tried to save his people, and he succeeded....through you." She says trying to convince him that what Jamus did was right. Even though she knows that how Jamus went about doing it was wrong, he was only trying to save his people. _

_He looks around sort of agreeing with her. "It's not the reason I did it." He raises his eyebrows as though he's trying to say something more. _

_She smiles, "I know," thinking she knows what he is 'trying' to say. _

_He then covers up his feelings, "Don't go feeling special now. I'd have done it for any one of you." _

_Her smile becomes wider, "Of course."_

_He turns to leave, "Except for maybe McKay."_

"_Yes, I think even for Rodney." She yells after him. _

"_Maybe," he says in defeat. _

A smile appears on his face. "Too bad, I held back my feelings." She did say it about a year ago. He doesn't have good social skills. He never has.

The memory begins to slip so he concentrates more on Teyla, and the memory. It slowly comes back to him. "Hmm....I wonder what could have happened if I said something different." He closes his eyes and continues concentrating on her and the memory again.

"_It's not the reason I did it." He raises his eyebrows as if he's trying to say something more. _

_She smiles, "I know." He's about to respond when she cuts in again, "I know what you are trying to say.....and I feel the same." _

"_You do?" He wonders out loud. _

_She nods, "Yes, I do." _

"_Really, you feel hungry too?" He laughs a bit. _

_She shakes her head as a bit of a smile appears on her face, "That is not what I meant." _

_He looks at her looks at her wondering, "Then what did you mean?" _

"_I mean to say that....I....." She doesn't quite know how to say this. _

_He looks at her for an answer, "Yes?" _

_She decides to just come straight out with it, "I love you. I have for some time now." _

_The reaction she got from him was the complete opposite to the one she thought she would get. A smile appeared on his face. _

"_I love you too." _

_Their smiles grew as they stared at each other for what seemed like ages. _

He opens his eyes feeling like she is there with him, almost feeling like he was actually talking to her but it wasn't it was his imagination.

His eyelids become heavy, "I can't fall asleep. I can't....I need.....I need to figure out a way........to get back to.......to......" His minds drifts to the last person he was thinking about. "......Teyla." And with that he falls asleep against the cave wall.

*********

Next day he wakes up slowly as the sunlight reaches his eyes. "I'm thirsty." He gets up slowly trying not to injure is ankle anymore. However he's noticing that he must not have hurt it that much because he is now able to walk on it gently.

Eventually he gets to the river not too far away from the gate. "Wait a minute. Why haven't I seen any wraith lately?" He looks around and up at the sky. _Ronon made being a Runner sound really hard, this has been pretty easy so far. Why is that? _He shrugs it off and looks around once more to make sure it's safe before getting down on his hands and knees. Leaning down he scoops up some water up to his mouth, "Ahh that was good."

"Wait a second, I have an idea." He looks back at the gate and sees no one. Without heading back to the cave he heads for the gate. He didn't leave anything there anyways.

An idea has popped into John's head. What if he dialled the gate address to the planet his team was going to visit next? If he got there before them then he could just contact them that way. Instead of running from the wraith he could get them to get the tracker out of him. "I guess that Mensa test was right I am pretty smart." He says aloud. "Question is: What was the address?"

He looks up at the Stargate and then back at the DHD. "What could it be? Think John think." His ankle begins to hurt from the weight of his body on it so he decides to sit down next to the DHD. "What was the name um......P3X – 478." He thinks about it. "No, that can't be it. Um...wait I think it was M3X – 453. Ya, that sounds correct. Wait a minute, how does that help me figure out what the address is?" He hits his head with his hand again, "Idiot."

Leaning down he puts his head down in his hands, "Think John think."

...

...

...

...

...

He abruptly raises his head, "I got it!"

Slowly he stands up not wanting to hurt his ankle more. "Okay the address was...." He presses the first button and it locked. He continued doing this until the 7th chevron locked in place. "Good news, this address leads to a planet. Now the only question is: is it the _right_ planet and not a planet in space?"

He moves away from the DHD and heads up to the event horizon. "Here goes nothing." He steps into the wormhole.

* * *

Congradulations to all of you who guessed right that John didn't die. So tell me what you think**. Please REVIEW. **

--Jenni


	6. Hyruun

_Author's Note: Wow, this chapter is long. It's almost double my usual chapter size so please enjoy. _

* * *

Chapter 6 - Hyruun

"Whoa," John says coming out of the wormhole experiencing a cold, tingly sensation he feels every time he steps through the gate. Looking around he sees many houses, "This place looks a lot like Earth." He looks up into the sky and sees a floating island, "Now that is cool."

Someone walks up to him as he is looking around, "Hi there."

John looks back down at the man in front of him, "Hi."

Another man walks up to them, "Hi there, my name is President Marcus Detree, and welcome to Toonrysa. This is Linn Chang; he is part of my council."

John smiles, "Hi there, I'm Jo....James.......James Smith." He stuck his hand out.

President Detree shook his hand. "What can we do for you? Do you need shelter?"

"Well actually the wraith are kind of after me so I can't stay long, I'm actually just wondering if anybody has come through the Stargate recently?" He asks hoping that they have.

"No, no one has come through the great ring in many years." Then he realizes something, "Did you say the wraith are after you?" He asks curious.

"Yes, "He looks at him wondering why he isn't even flinching when he says the wraith.

He smiles, "The wraith do not bother us. We have a device that protects us from them so if you need shelter you can stay here. You can stay with Linn." His hand motions to the man next to him.

Linn nods, "Yes, I would be very honoured if you would. I live all alone; it would be nice to have someone to talk to. Gain another friend."

John nods to that, "Okay then. I guess it's settled. I'll live with you...umm Linn was it?"

"Yes," he looks to the President as if waiting for permission to leave.

Detree nods gently as if letting Linn know he can now leave. He watches them leave but notices something about James. He walks up to them from behind, "Excuse me, James. Did you injure yourself? I see that you are limping a bit."

John looks back at Detree, "Oh it's nothing, it's just a sprain, and I'll be fine."

President Detree looks over at Linn, "Linn, maybe you could take James here to get some medical care."

"Trust me, I'm fine, no need to worry," he puts his hand up trying to motion that he is fine.

"Alright, I'll do that but I shall take him up to the one on the island. I have some work that I need to pick up," he smiles.

Linn turns around looking for something, "Oh, there's where I parked it. Come now, I shall take you up to the island to have your ankle checked out. Please, this way," he motions towards what looks to be a black SUV.

*********

On the outside the vehicle looked to be just a simple SUV but on the inside it was extremely different from the usual SUV's John is used to. First of all there was no steering wheel, in its place was more of a flight control, like an F-302 only there were two joystick's instead of just one. All kinds of different buttons covered the inside of the vehicle, all with different designs on them. Most likely they were in the language of these people but John could tell what a few of them meant. For instance the one that looked similar to a plane.

_That has to mean, this thing can fly. _John thought as Linn pressed the very button he was looking at.

Linn pressed a few more buttons, took control of the joysticks and they were off. At first they travelled along the road for a bit before lifting off into the air.

"This thing can fly?" He looks out the window astonished by what he is seeing.

A smile appears on Linn's face, "How else did you expect us to get to the island?"

"Good point." John continues to look at the buttons on the panels and at Linn trying to figure out if he could fly this bird.

"You seem interested in my flying, why is that?" He asks John curiously.

"I was just wondering if you would let me try and fly this bird. Where I come from I usually do the flying, it's just a little odd for me to be the one sitting in the passenger's side." John smiles at Linn before looking ahead as the island came closer into view.

Linn looks from John to a certain button on the dash and considers the possibility of pressing it. _He seems trustworthy enough to fly the pod. _"I guess if we are to live together you should be able to get around our wonderful city, so I guess it would be alright if you flied the pod." He presses the button he has been staring at and all of a sudden the same kind of controls in front of Linn, appear in front of John.

"Whoa, is there anything you can't do with a press of a button." He says admiring the advanced technology of these people.

Linn smiles at his comment, "Okay, so all you have to do is use the joysticks to control height and turning, it's quite simple and of course the glowing energy emitters below control your speed. Okay now we are coming up to the city, I'll let you put her down on the ground in front of the medical centre, alright?"

John just nods, "Okay."

Linn begins to switch controls over to John, "Alright, on three you'll have control of the pod. One.....Two.....Three," he presses the last button thus switching the controls over to John.

John takes control of the pod flying as they get closer and closer to the city. Testing the speed he makes it go faster as they are now above the island, turning side to side and up and down. HE begins to line it up to the road that Linn points too when something goes wrong. All systems begin to shut down, that is the boosters that make the pod fly.

"What's going on Linn? What's happening?" John asks confused.

The pod shakes abruptly as the boosters fail, the very thing keeping them in the air, "Oh no, this is not good!" Linn exclaims, "What did you do?!"

Before John could answer the pod went crashing down to the island. Luckily for them John had for the most part levelled out the pod to land in front of the medical building. Now it was just a matter of stopping the pod.

Linn quickly grabs at the emergency brake but nothing happens. "This is not good." A building begins to come into view. The pod hits the ground and heads straight for a building.

"That is an understatement!" John yells just as they make contact with the building, hitting it with full force. Crashing right through it, the pod loses something of importance.

Smashing through the other side of the building John yells, "Do something Linn!! Stop this thing!"

Linn presses down on the brake.....but nothing happens, "The brakes aren't working. We must have lost them when we went through the building."

John glares at Linn, "Are you saying you don't have any fancy emergency brakes or something?!!"

He smiles awkwardly, "No, nothing like this has ever happened. There was no need for emergency brakes."

John looks back ahead, "What is that?" He points at something coming into view.

Linn looks up from the controls, "Oh no, if we hit that, that could do some real damage to the pod."

What looks to be a lamp post comes into view but much more widely and looks to be much sturdier than those on Earth.

Then John realizes something, "I think we're slowing down. The post isn't coming as fast as it was a moment ago. Maybe we caught onto something and it's slowing us down."

"You are right, according to my readings we are definitely slowing down.....at a considerable rate. We definitely must have hooked onto something." He looks back up hoping whatever they have hooked onto slows them down enough that they don't hit the light. "Here it comes," He squints as he partially looks away.

John does the same.

Nothing happens, there's no big bang, or echoing of metal being crushed into nothing. John opens his eyes slowly and looks ahead to see the post right in front of them. "Linn," he taps on his shoulder. "We didn't hit it."

Linn opens his eyes as John exits the pod and steps out in front of it to see how close they actually were to hitting it. "Wow that was close." _Phew,_ he thinks as he wipes the sweat that was forming on his brow.

Then he notices people in what looks to be medical clothing with medical gear come rushing up to them yelling things like, "Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself? How are you feeling? Maybe you should sit down." And John responding with a lot of 'I'm fine's.'

*********

After a long day, Linn and John finally enter his house back on the main land about an hour or two before sunset. "I can't believe one of your doctors gave me a cane. I told them I'm not going to use it so why?" He says as he puts sets his cane against the wall near the doorway and makes his way over to the couch.

Linn smiles before putting his files that he had retrieved from his office on the table in front of John. "I would have done the same thing but that is what the doctors here do. They give you things you probably won't use but there is a slight chance that it may come in handy. Now would you like a tour of my house or what?"

John gets back up on his feet wincing a bit at the pain, "Definitely."

"As you have already figured out this is the living room and if you follow me this way, through this swinging door leads you into the kitchen. Fully stocked, eat whatever you like, what's mine is yours now so enjoy."

The kitchen looked amazing, when you walked in the first thing you saw was the nice wooden table with four seats around it coloured with a dark stain. Next to it is an island with more stools off the side, a double door, stainless steel fridge, marble counter-tops. "Does every house look this incredible?"

Linn looks back at John, "Pretty close, yes, I mean we all customize it to our taste but yes. We do not limit out people because of standard. We treat our people as a whole. Do you not do that on your world?"

"Actually we don't, looks to me like we should though because it looks to me like you have a very nice life." He walks around the kitchen looking at all the cool little gadgets and things. "Is the rest of your house as cool as this?"

A smile appears on Linn's face again, "Follow me, I will show you the rest of the house." They exit the kitchen through the same door, through the living room, to the door turned left and went up the stairs. Once at the top he showed John the washroom which was the first door on his right then came Linn's room on the left. John's room would then be the room that is the next door to the right next to the storage closet. They then end up going back down the stairs and into the room to the right of the door which leads into what looks to be an entertainment room. Big TV, with what is probably DVD's in a shelf next to it.

"That's pretty much everything, just the garage but I'm sure you don't want to see that."

John smiles, "Depends on what is in the garage."

Linn sighs in defeat, "Okay I'll show you what's in the garage. Come on." They exit the entertainment room by exiting room and head towards the front door. Instead of walking through that door however Linn opens the door a few feet to the right of it and opens the garage with a click of a button to let some light into the room.

He gets out of the way so John can walk into the room when he notices the pod, "How did that get here? Wasn't it up on the island?"

"Yes, I had the company bring it down to my house so I could put the brakes back in myself." Linn says as though it was nothing. Then he sees the looks of confusion on James face, "Oh, I was one of the main engineer's who helped create the pods so I only really trust myself to put my pod back together."

"Oh, I see." John walks around for a bit then something pretty awesome comes into his view, "Is that a.....a Yellow Ducati 999?"

Linn walks closer to see what he is looking at, "Um, you mean a Firopeer 234?"

"Whatever, this," he points to the motorbike.

"Yes, why, do you like it?"

"Do I like it? I love it! I have always wanted to get a Ducati but with being in the Air Force I never could have rode it much. So I never saw the point in buying one." He walks around it admiring the bike. "Can I take it out for a spin?" He looks back at Linn all excited.

"Um, it's one of my prototypes, I don't know if that would be such a good idea." Linn says cautiously.

John looks at him confused, "Prototype?"

"Ya, I'm trying to put the pod technology into a Firopeer 234, it's actually looking quite promising. I just haven't had the time to test it."

John's eyes light up, "I could test it."

"I don't know, after what happened earlier, I'm not sure." He says carefully.

John uses his puppy dog eyes, "I'll be careful." He goes back to seriousness, "Plus you said it yourself, you need to test it. You could sit here and put your brakes together while I test it."

He sighs in defeat, "Okay, you can test it."

"Yes!" He jumps in the air wanting to hug him but resists because it would be very unlike him. Getting closer to the bike to get on it, Linn comes closer to show him how it works.

"Okay so it's just like any bike when on the ground, but if you want to test flight, you click this button," he points to a button to the right of the speedometer. "When you press the button the handle bar morphs somewhat: the hand brake moves inward as a guard morphs around from the brake to the end of each handle bar. Then a squeeze button morphs out of the handle forward, these buttons control your height and speed. Turning is the same as when you're on the ground. Just turn the handlebars and it turns. Got it?"

He nods, "I think so."

"Oh and there's a locator in it too so wherever you end up, just click this and it will guide you back here."

John nods for confirmation, "Okay."

*********

Moments later John left Linn to his brake work while he left to test out the Ducati 999 or the Firopeer 234 as Linn called it.

Driving along the road he finds out that the Firopeer definitely is not like a Ducati because it seems to go much faster than motorbikes from Earth. That seems to be a normal occurrence lately, with everything he gets to try out. The Jumpers for one can go extremely fast, which makes sense because they travel through space but on ground he didn't know there were vehicles out there that could move this fast and have so much control. Usually things that go this fast have crappy control but not these vehicles.

As John gets used to the controls of the bike he decides to test the flight control seeing as ground control is working quite fine. _I press this button, _John clicks the button Linn had showed him. The height and speed controls appear on his handle bars with the protective guards from debris. _Good, so far so good, now let's see what this bad thing can do in the air. _

He gently squeezes the right handle and the bike lifts from the air, then he squeezes the left handle and it begins to move forward. "Cool."

Higher he goes and faster, he then notices a nice little hill he could use as a landing platform instead of stopping in air and gently lowering just like the pod that they took home did.

Moments later he aims it up just right and speeds forward gripping the left handlebar somewhat giving him enough speed to get there and not land and crash but just enough to go at a medium speed. He gently lets go of the right handle as it lowers, getting closer and closer to the hill. John gets ready to hit the flight button to turn off the boosters when something jerks his bike, then all of a sudden the boosters turn off. "Oh, no did I hit the flight button?"

He goes down, landing on the hill as predicted; the only thing is it's all muddy. The landing he had hoped for didn't work out as the big slid to the side and he dragged along with it. He and the bike getting extremely muddy.

After a few minutes he finally hits the bottom covered in mud, "Oh, Linn is not going to be happy about this." Then he clicks the button to get him back and makes his way back to the house as the sun begins to set around him.

*********

"You did WHAT!?! You got mud all over it. What were you thinking? Do you have any idea how long it's going to take me to get all that mud out of all the buttons?" John just looks at him not knowing what to say. "I didn't think so. If I wasn't so serene and learned to control my anger I would kick your ass right now and trust me, you wouldn't stand a chance."

John gets closer to him, "Oh ya."

"I have the highest skill of fighting on my planet. I trained for years. That is how I became the right hand man to the president. Mess with me, and trust me you will be using that cane of yours for more than just a crutch, got it?" He glares at Sheppard threateningly.

He puts his hands up in defeat, "Okay, but you do realize it was a test. The first test from what you told me, things like this are supposed to happen."

Linn thinks about that for a minute as he calms down back to his serene place, "You may be right about that but still, I have to get all the mud off of it one day."

"You're right, and I'm sorry. I should have been more careful but I wasn't."

Linn nods in agreement as someone walks up the driveway. The Linn notices who it is, "President Detree, what are you doing here so late?"

"I had heard that your guest James here," he points at John. "Had crashed a Firopeer not too long ago, I just came to make sure he is alright." He turns to John, "Are you alright?"

John looks at him, "Besides being very muddy, I'm okay."

"Are you sure, from the witnesses who saw you crash they said you hit the ground pretty hard?" He asks concerned for his well-being.

He nods, "Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright, I guess I better get going," He nods to Linn, who nods back before he exits the garage and walks back to his house farther up the street.

Linn looks back at John, "Come on James, you should have a shower before all that mud gets stuck to you. I'll get you a new change of clothes."

John stands up, "I think it's already stuck to me but okay."

They both head into the house.

*********

Next day, John walks into the kitchen with his new clothes on. Black pants with a white shirt with a blue stripe stretching from his right shoulder to just below his left arm. "Morning," He says a little cheerful secretly hoping that today would be the day that his team walks through the gate.

"Morning," he says looking over his files he's reading.

John walks past him to look in the fridge, "So did you get the brakes fixed on the pod?"

"Yes I did, why do you want to test it out?" Linn asks knowing that, that is what James was going to ask him.

John looks up from the fridge, "Are you sure? With what happened yesterday with the bike I would have figured you wouldn't let me."

Linn shrugs, "Things happen, and like you said it was just a test." He pulls out the keys from his pocket, "If you would like here are the keys."

Without hesitation John takes the keys from his hand, "Thanx. I'll be back in a bit."

With that John leaves the room and heads for the garage. After clicking the button to open the garage he gets into the pod and turns it on. He slowly backs it out of the garage and drives off doing just as he did before with the bike and drives on the ground for some time first. After he is sure that everything works including the brakes he presses the button for flight. The two joysticks appear and he lifts it off without hesitation.

"This is so cool," John exclaims as it takes off into the air.

He gets some distance in the air before what happened to him last time begins to take affect but this time it was malfunctioning differently. It wasn't completely shutting off. It was as though the machine was confused. Before he knew it though, the pod was back on the ground just as before racing towards things. This time it was a big sign in the ground, "Oh not good." He tries the brakes but nothing happens, "Not again, stupid brakes."

Eventually he runs out of road and the pod comes to a stop. This time no one really came to see if he was alright. A few people did but not that many. _Odd,_ John thought, _shouldn't there be more people worried about what happened._

*********

John appears back at the house with the guys who helped bring back the pod with a new set of brakes for Linn to put back on.

"You broke it again?" He says looking at his pod. "What was it this time?"

"The brakes, I tested them before I tried flight but then they malfunctioned for me when I was trying not to hit a sign. This time you and I are working on the brakes together because obviously you can't put them together by yourself." John says before walking past him for the house.

When they enter the house John notices some urgent thing on the TV, "What's that?" He wonders out loud.

"I don't know," Linn says following John into the room.

On the TV President Detree is standing on a pedestal talking in front of a crowd of people:

_From this point on if you see an accident involving either Linn Chang or newcomer James Smith and they walk away from it, don't even bother with medical attention. These two have been crashing pods and bikes for about a day now and each time they are fine. Each time they don't want medical attention so we are going to stop wasting our time trying to help them. Thank you for time. That will be all. _

John looks at Linn, "Can you believe that? What if we actually got injured one time, what then?"

"I'm sure if it was serious enough they would help us but you have to admit it isn't shocking. We have....actually more like you have been crashing a lot and walking away without a scratch. It's not too shocking to me that Detree would do this." He says still looking at the TV.

"Okay then.....so....shall we start working on the pod since you need it fixed." John suggests.

Linn gets up, "That's probably a good idea."

*********

Some minutes later they're both in the garage lying under the pod trying to figure out what happened to the brakes.

"Linn, can I ask you a question?" John asks.

Linn examines a piece of wiring before answering, "Sure, what is it?"

"How is it that the wraith haven't come to your planet before?" John asks curious because every planet they have ever been too has always talked about the wraith coming to cull there planet.

"Well on Hyruun, this planet we have a device that in a way puts us invisible but not really invisible."

John cuts in, "What do you mean?"

"One time, we had activated the device when there were wraith ships above our planet, they fired thinking that we were just invisible just like many of us thought. It turned out that the weapons fire just went right through us, as if we were ghosts. It's was really odd. We still have not figured out why it does that." He explains on as he and John continue fixing the brakes.

Minutes go by before they get back up, this time Linn has a question for John, "I have a question for you James?"

"Shoot," he says as he wipes his hands of grease.

"When you came through the great ring you asked if any people have come through recently, why?" He asks curious.

John thinks for a moment, "Well, I'm pretty sure this is the planet my friends are supposed to come to next and since I was kidnapped by the wraith I can't just go back so I need to meet up with them. So if you ever and I mean ever see anyone come through the gate or great ring as you call it, tell me." He says putting emphasis on 'great ring'.

Just then there's a ringing noise, and Linn runs to the console on the wall and picks up an earpiece and sticks it in his ear. "Yes President Detree."

John hears a bunch of 'ugh huhs' and 'Okays' from Linn before he looks back at James. "I have to go James, President Detree needs me, and I'll be right back."

John nods..."Okay." he says before looking back at the pod.

About a half an hour goes by before Linn comes rushing into the garage, "James! James, where are you?" he asks hurriedly.

John pulls himself from under the pod and looks at Linn, "What is it Linn? Can't you see I'm busy?" He says quite annoyed with the disturbance.

"You told me to tell you if anyone ever came through the gate."

"Someone came through the gate?" John gets up from under the vehicle and stands up, "How many?"

"Four: a very tall man with weird hair, a woman, a military man and a man who looked to be very obsessed with our president. Asking him various questions about this and that, I don't even know—"

"Where'd they go Linn?" John walks past him out onto the driveway looking for these newcomers.

Linn walks over to him, "They went up to the island to talk with the president."

He looks at him eyes wide, "Really?" Quickly he puts down his gloves, "I have to go talk to them." Without waiting for an answer from Linn he starts walking.

Linn runs up in front of him, "Wait, you can't leave me. We need to finish our work. How else am I going to get to work tomorrow? Remember the pod; you broke it this morning." He says anger in his voice.

"I'll fix it later, right now I HAVE to go speak with them," he tries to get around Linn but he doesn't move. "If you don't get out of my way, I'm going to hurt you." He says threateningly.

Linn moves closer to him, "Do it. Try and hurt me, you know I can take you." His eyebrow raises in question. John backs down, "I didn't think so."

"Fine, I'll help you fix it then I get to go talk to them, deal?" He puts out his hand.

Linn shakes it, "deal."

They both walk back into the garage and continue fixing the pod. All the while John is keeping an eye on the road knowing that the newcomers will have to go by the house to get to the gate.

Eventually John realizes that if the newcomers are in fact his team then most likely Rodney will have tons of questions so he decides to ask Linn since they've been just sitting there for a bit now staring at each other. John asks another question, "So Linn, if you helped build these pods then how come they keep malfunctioning?"

"I have no idea," he looks at John confused. "They shouldn't be doing this but they are. It doesn't make any sense."

Just then John sees them in the corner of his eye. He quickly runs out on the driveway and sees them walking towards the gate. Running back in he says, "Okay, they're leaving, I'm going to go talk to them right now okay?"

Linn gets up from his seat, "No, we had a deal James. You said you would help fix my pod before going to speak with them. It's not fixed so you can't."

John looks at him like he's some kind of idiot, "Linn, the pod is fixed. You've been sitting there for the past 5 minutes staring at the tool box."

"No I haven't, I've been working. You're the one who's been doing nothing." He walks closer to John.

"_I'm_ the one doing nothing. Ya, right. I'll prove it to you," He walks closer to the pod and opens the door to it. "I'll test it and show you that it is fixed." Getting in he starts the engines, "See, it works. I'll even drive it to the gate." He backs it out of the garage and onto the street.

Linn comes racing out of the garage and stands next to the car, "James, there is a big difference between starting the engine and actually getting it to go anywhere."

"Did you not see me just pull it out of the driveway? It works fine." He says a matter-a-factly. "See I'll show you." He presses the gas a little bit and then stops it. John makes a face to show he was right, "I told you, I got to stop, easy as that."

Linn chimes in, "There is a HUGE difference between getting the pod to move a little and actually getting it to stop. Do you not remember the fact that, that is what we are trying to fix, is the brakes? You broke them remember?"

"I did not break them, you put them together wrong. It's not my fault that they failed on me. And besides we decided that YOU were going to fix them." John says getting extremely annoyed.

"No, I remember you saying you were going to fix them because of my crappy job the first time."

"Well then we better hope that the brakes are fixed or this could turn out really bad and it'll be your entire fault."

With that he drove off not waiting for Linn's response. He drives down the street getting closer and closer to the gate, "Okay, ease up on the throttle." He does so, "Check, its working fine, now the brakes....." He tries but nothing happens, "Oh no.....they aren't working. This is not good."John looks up at the gate getting closer and closer. "What should I do?"

Linn walks towards the gate as John drives off and watches him as he goes. "Hm, it looks like James may have been right, looks like the brakes are working." Then he notices the driver's side door open and John jumps out of it. "Oh crap," he watches as the people at the gate scatter to the sides as the pod goes up the stairs and just through the gate. Luckily it wasn't activated. He jumps into a running pace to get to John.

Rodney helps the President get up, "Are you okay?"

"Yes I am fine. Thank you Dr. McKay."

"Shouldn't we do something about that?" He points to the pod still moving along the road past the gate.

He shakes his head, "No, this happens a lot with these two. Ever since James joined our city not too long ago, things like this have been happening a lot. We've just kind of gotten used to it."

"Oh, I see."

John gets on his feet slowly. Rubbing his right arm he finds a cut running from his wrist to elbow, "Ouch that hurt!"

Linn finally gets to John, "You idiot! I told you it wasn't ready but _no_ you _had_ to test it AGAIN!!! What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have some sort of condition I don't know about?"

John shakes his head, "Hey, don't put this on me. YOU'RE the one who didn't fix the brakes like we agreed. This is your fault!" He says sounding very angry.

"No, YOU didn't fix the brakes! This is YOUR fault!"

Then someone walks up beside John and yells quite angrily, "Hey!!"

John turns abruptly angrily since someone is interrupting his argument, "What?!"

"Is there a problem...?" The man voice drifts off.

A smile appears on John's face as he sees Ronon and Teyla standing in front of him, "I was right."

Both Teyla and Ronon's facial expressions go blank, showing nothing, not knowing what to say.

Tears well up in Teyla eyes as she finds one word she never thought she would ever say again, "John?"

John just smiles knowing that no matter what happens from then on he knew that he was back with his team. That they would get the tracker out of him, so he could go home, to his real home on Atlantis.

* * *

Well after that long chapter of explaining, now we're onto what happens between John and his team. What did you think of the chapter? What do you think will happen next?

**Please Review. **


	7. Reunion

Chapter 7 – Reunion

Teyla stands there in total shock and confusion. _Could this really be John? _It can't be.....she, like Ronon had seen the body in the Wraith lab. And yet here he stands right in front of her with that smile he has. A smile she knew too well. To make her heart beat faster, too see him and know he is alright. This moment is a moment she thought would never happen. Looking into his eyes she knew it was him, because even though John only showed his tough exterior, every so often he would soften up and show who he really is. A gentle and kind man, one she only wishes could be hers.....just like in her dream.

The world around them seems to stop as John continues to smile at her......at Teyla. I mean sure he was happy and excited to see both Ronon and Teyla but there was something different about this moment. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on. It was like he was stuck in a moment, frozen in time where all he saw was her, the one person he truly cares for. To see the look of relief in her eyes in this very moment gave John a rush of relief to know that she knows he's not dead.

He takes a step forward not really knowing what he is doing, not really in control of his body.

Ronon curiously looks between the two of them; a smile appears on his face. _I knew they had feelings for each other. The question now is: will they act upon them. _He continues watching them stare at each other. I mean sure he is happy John is alive but to see this show of emotion, of endless staring, it sure says something about their feelings. If they are trying to hold back their feelings, they aren't doing a very good job of it.

Teyla looks down at his arm as he takes another step closer. Worry and concern become evident on her face as she sees the cut.

He doesn't take his eyes away from hers. Even though her eyesight is at his arm he still continues staring at her. Wanting to take in this moment for what it is....a reunion. One that John wants to last forever.

After thinking that he would never see his team or Teyla again, it made him realize the things that are important to him like who he cares about. Thinking back to that dream he had, the one where he admitted his feelings to her, about how he loves her, he remembers that it was fake. He came up with it but from the look he is getting from her right now, in this very moment, in space and time, he comes to realize that life is too short. You should take life and use it, not waste it.

He takes one more step closer closing the distance between them. She doesn't resist to his closeness making him think she wants this as much as he does. He reaches up with his right hand and gently caresses her cheek completely oblivious to the pain that is coursing through him because of the deep cut on his arm.

She melts into his touch feeling completely at ease before looking back into his eyes noticing that the distance between them was getting smaller and smaller.

Just as their lips are about to touch....

"John? What are you talking about his name is James?" Linn interrupts not really noticing the moment they were having.

John straightens up, shakes his head slowly as he turns around from Teyla to look at Linn angrily, "Are you kidding me Linn?!"

Linn shrugs, "What? It's true your name is James.....James Smith."

"Are you stupid or something?" John is completely turned around now facing Linn.

Linn points to himself, "Am _I_ stupid? You have got to be kidding me." He points over to where the pod is, "You're the one who almost destroyed my pod for the 3rd time."

John walks closer to Linn now very angry, "No YOU almost destroyed your own pod!" He points at Linn abruptly without actually hitting him.

Linn points from himself, "I wasn't the one who was driving the pod," he points to John, "YOU were! This is your fault and your fault alone."

He chuckles a bit, "Oh....my fault. I'm not the one who doesn't know how to install brakes properly. This wouldn't have happened if you installed them correctly the FIRST time!"

John and Linn continue fighting about whose fault it is when all of a sudden Rodney comes up behind Teyla and Ronon, "What are you guys doing over here? Elizabeth wants us to go back to debrief her on everything we found out so that we can...." Then he notices the familiar messy black hair. "Who is that?" He whispers out loud.

John hears the familiar voice of Dr. Rodney McKay so he decides to quit fighting with Linn and turn around, "Hey McKay, nice to see you."

Linn pulls John back to face him, "You can't turn away from our discussion to talk to the strangers. You don't even know them."

"YES _I_ do, now let go of me Linn," he shakes his arm away from Linn.

Ronon steps forward, "Do you want me to take care of him Sheppard?" He says as he looks down at Linn who begins to cower.

John slaps Ronon on the arm, "That's alright buddy. I think I can handle him."

_Who is that? That voice in the background sounds familiar. _Elizabeth says over Rodney's radio.

"You won't believe who it is Elizabeth." Rodney says completely bewildered to say the least.

_Why not Rodney? _

John hears Rodney say Elizabeth so he moves closer to Rodney, "Is that Elizabeth on the radio?"

"Yes, but I don't think it would be such a good idea for you to talk to her you might—"

"Freak her out, ya probably but what else am I going to do." John says confidently.

Rodney looks at him more confused, "Well you could just come back to Atlantis."

_Come back to Atlantis. Rodney what's going on over there? Who should come back to Atlantis? _Elizabeth's voice sounding very concerned for the safety of Atlantis at the mention of bringing someone to Atlantis.

"I can't just come back to Atlantis." He says in defeat.

Finally Teyla finds her voice after their moment and she speaks out, "Why not John?"

He sighs, "It's a long story, basically the wraith put a tracker in me and made me a runner so for me to come back to Atlantis I need a doctor to come here and remove the tracker first." Then he looks to Ronon, "That reminds me, you always said being a runner was hard, I found it quite simple. Why do you think that is?"

Ronon just shrugs, "How should I know."

"McKay, give me your radio. Let me talk to Elizabeth." John reaches for the radio on Rodney's ear but he pulls back. "What the heck McKay? I just need to talk to her."

"Fine," he lifts the radio from his ear, "here." He says in defeat as he crosses his arms in front of himself.

He takes the earpiece and puts it in his ear, "Elizabeth? It's John."

A few minutes pass before he gets a response, _John? I thought you were...._

He decides to finish the sentence for her, "....dead? Ya well it's a long story. Anyways McKay and Ronon are coming through the gate soon I think." He turns to McKay, "Right, you're going through the gate?" Then he looks to Teyla, "Do you want to stay here with me Teyla or go back with Ronon and Rodney?"

"Sure," she nods.

He looks at her a bit confused noticing that the effect that their almost kiss had on her. "Sure, you'll stay or sure you'll go?"

"Right, I mean I'll.....stay.....with you." She stutters a bit to get it all out.

John looks back at Rodney after smiling with the answer Teyla gave him, "So, you're leaving right?"

"Ya, I need to tell her about everything the people on this planet are offering us." Rodney answers. "Wait a minute, why does Ronon have to come with me?"

"I think if he stayed here he might kill Linn, and that wouldn't be good for anybody." He says quiet so Ronon couldn't hear. He probably did anyways because of his excellent hearing.

Then Rodney remembers something, "So is Sergeant Mason coming with Ronon and I or is he staying here with you and Teyla?"

John looks over at Mason standing by the gate, "He can go with you guys." He clicks his hand back to his ear to activate the radio, "Elizabeth, they're coming through soon so you should lower the shield. They will tell you why I'm not coming back right away." He looks at McKay, "Go."

"But you have my radio..." Rodney looks to Sheppard to give it back putting his hand out.

"Rodney what am I going to use when you call back?" He looks at Rodney.

Rodney looks from John to Teyla, "Use Teyla's radio. Now give mine back."

"Fine," he pulls out the ear piece and gives it back to Rodney.

With that Rodney, Ronon and Sergeant Mason step through the gate.

Once on the other side of the gate Elizabeth waits for the reason for John not coming through the gate. Rodney takes the lead on this one, "The wraith put a tracker in him so Dr. Keller should get her gear ready so she can go off world and remove the tracker."

Elizabeth clicks her hand to her ear, "Doctor Keller, I'm going to need you to get a team together to go off world to remove a tracker."

_You mean the same kind of tracker device that Dr. Beckett removed from Ronon twice? _Keller asks from the infirmary feeling a little nervous about her first mission off-world.

"Yes, Dr. Keller that would be the one." Rodney chimed in. Then he looks back at Elizabeth, "Now shall we get to debriefing."

"Wait a minute," Ronon stops Weir. "I think you should let Teyla and Sheppard have at least an hour before you send Dr. Keller through."

Elizabeth turns back to Ronon, "And why do you think that?"

"You didn't get to see the moment they had not too long ago. They need some time alone and what better time than on an alien planet."

She agrees with him because of the talk she had with Teyla a few days ago, "Okay but only an hour, after that I'm sending Dr. Keller."

"Fine," Ronon says before walking away to go to most likely the mess to get some food.

*********

John watches as the wormhole disengages before looking back at Teyla who is standing in the exact place she was standing in during their moment. They lock eyes again, just as John is about to say something Linn walks through them.

"So, we should probably get the pod before we go back to the house." Linn interrupts again.

John sighs in defeat, "Okay, but I am not driving it this time."

They continue walking towards the pod, "I'm not going to let you. You've crashed my vehicles four times! Why would I ever let you drive it again?" Linn says sounding like he is never going to let it go.

"It was more like three times not four," John states as he puts too much pressure on his ankle wincing a bit.

Teyla notices, "Are you alright John?" She asks concerned for his well-being.

"I'm fine, just a sprained ankle, nothing to worry about." He says brushing it off as if it is nothing.

Linn ignores the ankle bit and continues on as he shakes his head, "I don't think so. You crashed my pod three times and my bike once. Last time I checked three plus one is four!"

They finally reach the pod, Linn gets into the driver's side and John opens the back seat door for Teyla so she can get in.

She smiles, "Thank You John."

"You're welcome," he smiles also before he closes it and gets into the passenger side. "True but technically I never crashed the bike." Linn glares at him. "What? I may have gotten a little bit of mud on it but I never crashed it."

"A little bit of mud, are you insane?!" Linn says slowly driving down the road towards the house so that when they get close he can just let go of the speed and come to a slow stop. "Do you have any idea how long it is going to take to get the mud off?"

He shakes his head, "Just spray it with water, it'll be good as new."

"If I spray it with water, all the circuitry will be damaged then I'll have to start all over. I will have to clean it by hand and that`s all thanks to you!"

Finally they get closer to his house and slowly come to a stop. They all get out of the pod.

"So Linn, how do you suppose we get it up the driveway?" John looks at him questionably as Teyla walks over to stand next to John.

He looks from the pod to the garage, "Well we could either push it or my crew to come and fix my pod so that we can drive it into the garage. What do you think?"

"Well seeing as you _obviously _can't fix your only pod, I say we go with door number two."

Linn looks at him confused, "Door number 2?"

He sighs, "The second one. Your crew comes and fixes the dang thing." John turns to Teyla, "Come on I'll show you the house."

"Alright," she says with a smile.

Then he gets it, "Okay then." He yells before following them inside to go call his people to come fix the pod.

John does a quick show of the house, showing Teyla every room. After showing her the house they sit down on the couch in the living room.

Her P-90 is sitting on the table with her vest and side arm. "So how long have you been living here?" She motions to the area around her.

"Actually I just arrived here yesterday, and since then I've, as Linn put it destroyed all his things. In truth though, it's his _crappy_ handiwork that has actually crashed the pods--"

"Not true," Linn yells from the kitchen.

John smiles and then leans in to Teyla and whispers, "He doesn't know what he's talking about." He then realizes how close he moved to her and all the emotions he was feeling earlier come rushing back. "Umm...." He smiles awkwardly and pulls back. "Sorry."

She shakes her head, "It's alright."

He looks away for a moment then looks back awkwardly, "Listen about earlier, I just want to say....."

"Yes?" She looks at him curious about what he is going to say.

Linn then walks into the room, "Hey I was wondering. Why did you call yourself James if your name is in fact John?"

John sighs in defeat as he leans his head back on the couch, "WHY do you keep doing that?!" He says abruptly looking at Linn.

"Doing what? I just asked a question." He states as a matter of fact.

John just shakes his head instead of giving him an answer. Teyla however is pretty sure she knows what John is talking about. The fact that Linn interrupts every time they are about to talk about what happened earlier or more like what almost happened.

"So, why did you change your name James—I mean John?" Linn asks.

Eventually John looks back at Linn, "I changed it because I thought it would be too odd if my team from Atlantis were to mention my name to your people. Could you imagine the confusion and sadness if you were told from a complete stranger that there is someone on your planet with the same name? And what if that person wasn't who you thought it would be? I mean in this case, I would have been who I said I was but I thought it would still be hard. So I chose to change my name. I was going to go with Johnny Cash but I thought that would be too obviously especially to anyone from Atlantis who knows I like to listen to him. So that's why I did it."

He looks over to Teyla, "I'm sorry."

She looks at him confused, "Sorry about what? John, it was not your fault that the wraith took you away from us and made you a runner. I am just glad that you are back." She looks away for a moment just as the phone rings.

"I'll get it," Linn announces as he exits the room.

She looks back at him holding back a few tears, "You are a big part of our team. We all missed you a lot. I think Ronon and Rodney even actually got along. Oddly enough they kind of bonded while when we found...." she trails off not wanting to finish her sentence.

Noticing that she may fall apart right there in front of him, he pulls her in for a hug. "It's okay Teyla. I'm back now. You don't need to worry about anything now."

Linn comes rushing into the room past them not noticing their moment and out the front door.

*********

Ten to fifteen minutes go by before Linn comes back with Dr. Keller and a nurse.

Keller walks into the room and sees John and Teyla sitting next to each other on the couch. She looks to Linn, "Alright, I'm going to need a nice clean area with a flat surface. A kitchen table would work perfect if you have that?"

"Yes, this way," He points towards the kitchen as John and Teyla get up from where they are sitting and begin walking that way.

Keller looks over and sees John limping a bit, "Did you injure yourself Colonel?"

He looks down at his right ankle, "What? It's nothing I'm fine."

"Once I get set up, I'm going to take a look at that." She makes a promise as she makes her way into the kitchen with her nurse to help.

After several minutes her equipment is all set up. During this time Keller also gave John scrubs to change into only the shirt was one that you tie in the back so that she can get the tracker out."Okay Colonel, let's check that ankle of yours."

He sighs in defeat as he walks over to the draped table and sits on it so she can get a better look at it. She looks at it for a few minutes' presses in certain areas of his foot and ankle to figure out the damage that has been done.

"Hmm, it looks like you sprained your ankle."

"That much I surmised," he says as he feels some pain from it.

"Since you should really not be walking on it to much if you want it to heal, I'm taking you off active duty for a few days." She says as she stands up from the chair she was sitting in.

He looks at her surprised, "A few days? Is that really necessary I'm fine, see?" He gets up and winces at the pain before walking a bit. "I'm fine," he says through gritted teeth not realizing until now how much it really did hurt to walk.

She smiles a bit, "Sure. You may think that but if you want it to heal you need to take it easy for a few days and that means no missions. I'm sorry. Don't worry the days will go flying by."

"You say that now but you have no idea how boring it can be on Atlantis with nothing to do." He says convincingly hoping she will reconsider.

"I'm sure. Now let's get you all set up for the surgery." She says as she moves her chair out of the way. "Just lie down on your stomach here and Amy, my nurse will hook you up to the anaesthetic so that you will go to sleep. When you wake up you will be in the infirmary on Atlantis."

He smiles, "Best news I've heard all day." He says as he gets onto his stomach on the table.

"Ready?" She asks for confirmation.

He gives her thumbs up, "Ready."

Amy inserts the anaesthetic into his system. He looks off to his left as he slowly sees Teyla become fuzzy as his eye lids become heavy as he drifts off to sleep.

* * *

So the long awaited reunion of John and Teyla. What did you think? **Please REVIEW. **

Just a little side note: There is lots more John and Teyla to come in the coming chapters.


	8. Feelings

Chapter 8 – Feelings

A couple hours later, after the surgery, John finally begins to stir in his sleep. He adjusts how he is lying a bit. Just slightly but just enough for whoever is near him to question it. "John?" He hears a voice, but can't quite make out who it is. It's definitely a female voice. It could be either Elizabeth or Teyla because Dr. Keller would have said 'Colonel' and not his name.

He opens his eyes a little bit but immediately closes them when he sees the bright light.

"John? John? Can you hear me?"

_There's the voice again. The same sweet voice, a voice filled with concern and worry. _He thinks to himself as he tries again to open his eyes. This time he opens them as slowly as possible so that his eyes can adjust to the light. Once adjusted he looks around, over to the right of him and seeing his arm bandaged up. He first looks at it confused until he realizes what happened; _right I injured my arm when I jumped out of a moving vehicle. Good one John!_

"John?"

He looks to the source of the voice to his left. There standing next to the bed is Teyla. Relief covers his features as he then realizes that he is back at Atlantis.

"Teyla," barely a whisper makes it out. Noticing this he touches his throat wondering where his voice went.

She immediately reaches for the glass of water with a straw in it from the table next to her and brings it closer to him. He takes a sip from the glass, "Thanks. I needed that." He looks around again, "So I guess the doc got the tracker out of me?"

Teyla nods her head, "Yes, Doctor Keller got the tracker out quite easily. Then we brought you back here."

"How long have I been out?" He asks curiously.

"A couple hours, Dr. Keller said that was to be expected." Teyla smiles a bit.

He then realizes something, "Wait a minute; you haven't been here the entire time have you?"

She shakes her head, "No, I have been coming to check on you every so often. I actually just came here a few minutes before you woke up. I was about to leave when I heard you exhale louder than normal."

"I see, I guess nothing exciting has been happening then since you've been spending so much time here in the infirmary." He says with a smile.

She awkwardly smiles not knowing what to say to his statement.

"So ugh....what's been going on with Rodney lately, is he going to be going back to the planet to check out the device that puts the planet invisible or what?" He asks curiously as he looks at her waiting for an answer.

At first Teyla finds it odd that he knows about the device but then realizes that this is John, of course he knows. He would have been curious just like them to know how they haven't been affected by the wraith. "Yes, he has been talking with Elizabeth to figure out who he is going to need and what equipment he thinks he might need."

"That sounds like Rodney, making sure everything is the way he wants it."

"Yes," she smiles.

He nods, "Ya." He then looks around the room awkwardly not knowing what to say to her.

This time she is the one to break the ice between them, "I have been wondering ever since you came back to Atlantis, how come you never went to New Athos to contact us instead of going to Toonrysa?"

He looks at her a bit confused, "I thought you of all people would know the answer to that question."

She looks at him confused now as well.

He continues on, "Your people have suffered at the hands of the wraith for centuries. I couldn't just go to New Athos for my benefit. To bring the wraith to your people again right after they were moved to a planet that the wraith don't know about....I couldn't do that...I wouldn't do that."

A bit of a smile appears on Teyla's face as she thinks about what he just said. _I knew John cared about my people. I did not realize he cared so much. _

"John, you're awake." Elizabeth announces walking towards his bed.

He looks away from Teyla at Weir. "Yes, I am."

"How do you feel?" She asks.

Just then Dr. Keller walks over as she hears the voice of not only Dr. Weir but also Colonel Sheppard. "Colonel, glad to see you're awake. How do you feel?"

"Well as I was just about to say to Elizabeth," he motions to Weir. "I'm ready to get out of here." Keller is about to say something when John continues on, "I know what you're going to say. I just woke up and I'm not up for it, but trust me I am. I feel fine."

Keller looks over at his monitors, "How is your neck? Does it hurt?"

He turns his head from side to side, "It feels a bit stiff."

"Okay, what about your arm, does it hurt?" She looks down at his arm.

"It hurts a bit but like I said, I'm fine." He looks at Weir annoyed hoping she can convince Keller to let him leave.

She just shakes her head. He got the message. She isn't going to help him out. It's up to the doctor as to whether or not he gets to leave.

Keller finishes her examine of Colonel Sheppard, "Well, you look to be okay. I think you are okay to go back to your quarters."

"Yes," he says excited to leave the infirmary.

She puts up her finger as if to add something more, "You have one condition however if you want to leave so fast."

This gets his attention. "What is it?"

Keller turns around picks up two things sitting against the wall near his bed. She turns back to face them and Sheppard's facial expression sinks, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope, you can either use the crutches or the cane. It's your choice. I was just going to give you the cane but some patients I have had in the past think that that makes them seem old, so I suggest the crutches instead. Which do you want?" She asks holding out the crutches in one hand and the cane in the other.

He sighs in defeat, "I'll just take the cane. I had crutches once when I was younger. They're a pain in the butt."

"Okay, here you go, and remember you cannot do anything to exhilarating to hurt your ankle. It needs time to heal," she hands him the cane. Her attention is then drawn to Weir, "I suggest he be on medical leave from missions for at 2-4 days. After that he should come see me to find out if he can go back on duty." She looks back at Sheppard, "Got it? That means no sparring."

He fakes a smile, "Fine."

She then walks over to a cabinet filled with drugs of all different kinds. Looking inside the cabinet she finds what she is looking for and then comes back to the side of his bed. She hands him a container of pills, "Here's some pain killers for when the pain gets bad. It shouldn't but you never know."

He smiles, "Thanks."

She slowly nods, "Well I guess if you want to you can leave now if you like."

"Finally," he swings the sheets over him so he can get out of the bed. He swings his feet off the right side as Keller steps out of the way. After planting his feet on the ground he begins to walk away.

Keller clears her throat to get his attention as he walks away.

He looks back at them, "Okay, I'll use the cane." He puts it down on the ground and continues walking, "Happy?"

She smiles before looking back at Dr. Weir and Teyla, "Well I should get back to work."

Both Teyla and Weir smile before Keller turns to leave to go back to work.

They then make their way out of the infirmary. Just as Teyla is about to go her separate way, Weir stops her, "Teyla, could I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure," She looks at her curiously as she follows Weir towards a room.

Elizabeth waves her hand over the console to open the door. She looks in and sees no one inside so she walks in with Teyla following behind. She turns around to face Teyla.

"What is it Elizabeth?" Teyla asks again not knowing the reason Weir is staring at her the way she is.

"Did something happen between you and John on the planet?" She raises an eyebrow.

Teyla averts her eyesight from Weir, "What? I do not know what you are talking about." Her mind then drifts off to the moment she had with John on the planet. The way he stared at her, not taking his eyes off her. The feeling of love she was getting from him as he stepped closer to her. Each step breaking a piece of the barrier she had been holding up ever since she met him. _His touch felt so warm against my cheek. _A smile appears on her face as she remembers him moving closer and closer to her, lips about to touch....

Weir looks at Teyla noticing she must have zoned out as she stares off into space. Obviously remembering a memory, _it may be the memory Ronon spoke of earlier. _She says her name, "Teyla?" Trying to snap her out of her trance but it doesn't work. She then waves her hand in front of her face saying her name slowly, "Tey....la."

Finally she snaps out of it, "Yes." She looks over a t Weir.

A smirk appears on Weir's face, "What happened must have been good for you to get lost in it with just a mention of it."

Teyla tries to sweep it under the rug, "John and I are just friends, nothing more."

Weir's smiles sinks, "Teyla, you know that's not true. No matter how much you think it is, it's not. There is no way for you to all of a sudden consider him only as a friend when you told me just a few days ago that you _love_ him."

Teyla looks down as she comes to terms with what she is saying before looking back.

"From the looks you two were giving each other in the infirmary, there's more there than meets the eye and I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed. You can do what you said and just go back to being friends but Teyla, in my opinion, if you do that you will probably regret it sometime down the road." She smiles reassuringly.

She smiles slightly, "I see what you are saying Elizabeth and I appreciate your concern and your need to help. Now I should be going, I have some mission reports I should catch up on. I hope you do not mind that I cut our conversation short?"

"It's alright, go right ahead," Weir nods for her to leave.

With that Teyla leaves the room to leave Weir standing in an empty room alone. _Wait a minute; Teyla is hardly ever behind in mission reports. _She thinks about this as she leaves the room.

*********

John is lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling. "101....102....103....104...." he silently whispers to himself as he counts the specks on his ceiling. "105....106....107...." Then he hears the chime for his door ring. "Thank god," he says loudly happy to do something else than count the ceiling specks. Not to mention he kept losing track so that didn't help much.

He swings his hand over the door console quickly and waits for the door to open thinking it's going to be Ronon coming to ask him to spar; _hopefully sparring with Ronon will make my ankle heal faster. _When the door finally does open it reveals someone he didn't expect but still wanted to see, "Teyla. What are you doing here?"

She stares at him for a moment before finding her voice, "I came to talk. Could I come in?"

"Ya, of course," he moves out of the way to let her in before waving his hand over the console again to close the door.

She sits down on one of the chairs in his room while he sits across from her on the corner of his bed.

They stare at each other awkwardly not knowing what to say or even how to say what they both want to talk about. John decides to break the ice, "So I bumped into McKay before I came to my room and he said he's going to be asking Elizabeth to request Colonel Samantha Carter to come to Atlantis to help him with the technology on Hyruun."

Teyla looks at him confused, "Who is that?"

"Oh, that's right you were on the mainland when Colonel Carter came to Atlantis with the rest of SG-1. You'll like her, she's actually quite friendly unlike McKay who can be....well you know."

She smiles, "Yes."

John continues on not liking the awkward silence, "That day was a day to remember, Dr. Jackson and Vala actually met an ascended Ancient. I wish I could have been there to...."

"John," she finally speaks his name.

Not wanting to talk about what she clearly wants to talk about yet John says, "I'm going back to Earth."

This statement throws her completely off, "What? You are going back to Earth." Her gaze moves from his as she looks away.

He looks at her as she looks away from him. He notices that her composure completely changes to one of sadness and almost fear. _Teyla doesn't fear anything._ He thinks to himself as he considers on what to say next. _What could she possibly fear?_

Eventually he figures it out, _Earth._ Realization covers his face as he realizes why she's acting the way she is. "Teyla, I'm not going there permanently."

She looks back at him confused, "You're not."

He shakes his head slowly so to not hurt his neck, "No, I'm going back there to get my things that were sent back after I was presumed _dead._ That's all, and then I'm coming back to Atlantis."

A smile appears on her face again. _I'm glad he's not leaving. _

He smiles too. _Tell her how you feel John. This is your only chance, if you don't do it now, you never will. _He wills himself to do what he never dreamed he would do.

Unbeknownst to him Teyla is thinking the same thing. Thinking about a way to tell him how she feels for him. Elizabeth was right about holding back her feelings. It's not the right thing to do. She minus well just tell him and if he doesn't feel the same then his loss. Here she goes, "John?"

He quits thinking about more things to say and turns his full attention to her resting his arms on his legs, "I know what you're going to say and I just have to say one thing. What happened on the planet, on Hyruun, it was my fault.....I didn't know what I was doing..... When I thought that I would never see Atlantis again it made me realize what's important to me.....and Teyla...." He pauses, thinking about exactly what he wants to say. "I realized _who's_ important to me.....who _I_ care about and I realized that...." _Here it goes John, just say it, there's no turning back now. _"I realized the person I care about is--"

"John," she too leans to rest her arms on her legs. "I too realized something when you were presumed.......dead. I realized how......." She searches for the right word, "how.......much I care for you......as a friend...."

The word _'friend'_ lowers John's hope.

"....as a team-mate but most of all I realized how much I....." John moves closer sitting on the edge of the corner of the bed. "...I...." She begins to lose her train of thought as she notices him move closer. "....I....care for....."

John brings up his right hand and gently caresses her cheek just like before, "Teyla, what I realized is that I care for you. You're the person who kept me going, the person whose image kept me from giving up."

She takes in the warmth of his hand and the tingly sensation she is getting in the pit of her stomach as his face moves closer, slowly closing the distance between them until finally their lips touch. Her right hand moves from her leg up to his neck trying to pull him closer to deepen the kiss.

After a few moments they slowly pull apart, "So I guess this means you care for me too then huh?" John says with a smile.

She smiles also, "Yes.....yes it does." She says still feeling all fuzzy and warm inside from the kiss.

He smiles too, "Do you want to come with me?"

"Come where?" She looks at him completely bewildered.

"To Earth, I'm leaving tomorrow. Well hopefully that is, I just have to talk Elizabeth about it first. But seeing as though I'm on Doctor ordered time-off I don't really have anything else to do anyway. So, do you want to come along?" He asks hoping she says yes.

The smile on her face widens, "I would love to. To see more of Earth would be wonderful."

"Okay then, the only thing we'll have to worry about is figuring out what to tell people if they ask you where you are from because you can't exactly go around telling people you're from another galaxy."

She laughs at his statement, "No that would not be a good thing."

* * *

_Hey guys, what'd you think of that chapter? Lots of John/Teyla just like I promised. _

_Make sure to Review. It's always appreciated. :D_


	9. His Family

_Author's Note: Sorry guys for being late. I've been a little busy. Plus I kept changing this chapter over and over. I think I had like 3 or 4 versions. I think it turned out pretty good though. Oh and thanx for all the reviews. _

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Chapter 9 – His Family

The next day Teyla is standing in the gate room waiting for John to get there so they can leave for Earth. Elizabeth walks over to her smiling, "So you look happy. Anything interesting happen yesterday between you and....." She raises her eyebrow and whispers "....John?"

A smile appears on Teyla's face, "Well as a matter of fact, yes."

Elizabeth looks at her a bit surprised, "Really? You must tell me when you get back from Earth."

"Yes, I...." Just then John walks into the room with the support of crutches. She walks past Elizabeth to John coming up the steps, "Why do you have crutches? I thought you were using a cane."

Rodney follows John in with a duffle bag, "Geez, do you have enough stuff? You're only going to be gone a couple days."

John shakes his head a Rodney, "There's actually not that much in that bag Rodney, you're just weak." He then turns his attention back to Teyla, "I switched to the crutches." He notices Weir glare at him. "Okay, more like I was forced to switch to crutches. Apparently my ankle will heal faster if I use the crutches because for this past day I haven't been using my cane at all."

John and Teyla make their way over to Elizabeth, "So Keller wants me to tell you to make sure he doesn't push it too far and to make sure he actually uses the crutches." Weir tells Teyla.

"I think we got it, now can we get going. We're already going to have to spend a half hour on the Midway, no sense wasting more time here right?" He says looking over at Teyla and Weir.

Weir looks up at the control room, "Dial the gate Chuck."

The chevrons begin to light up and lock as the gate spins finding each symbol needed to get them to the Midway station. After about a minute the gate locks and a wormhole is established.

Rodney hands over the bag to John and he grabs a hold of it awkwardly as he grips back onto the left crutch.

Teyla moves closer and helps John by taking the bag, "John let me carry that."

"Are you sure? I mean I can if you don't—"

She smiles, "It's alright. I have got it. Do not worry. Besides, we are just going through the gate. It is not like we have to travel a far distance."

"True," he let's go of the bag for her to take. Turning back to Elizabeth he says, "Well I guess we're off. See you in a few days."

With that both John and Teyla walk into the event horizon.

*********

After a half hour of poking and prodding on the Midway by doctors trying to make sure they didn't get some bizarre flu strand from the Pegasus Galaxy, they finally make it to the SGC. There they spent another half hour...or more, it was hard to keep track of time when all he wanted to do is leave. To get off the base and out into the real world, well the real world he used to know.

Before knowing about the Stargate that could take you to not only to other planets but another galaxy as well, John lived a pretty normal life. He had job in the Air Force, a pilot, something he has always wanted to do. Even though his father may disagree with his decision, he knew it was the right way to go. It was better than living a lie, he always said.

Now John lives a crazy life, one he never could have expected to have. He was glad that on that day, three years ago, that he decided to join the expedition. If he hadn't then he would never have made so many new friends, including the girl sitting right next to him in the passenger's seat of the SUV.

He looks away from the road for only a second and notices how amused she is with all the things outside. Even the little things, like: fire-hydrants or something as big as a huge mall. I mean sure John had shown her pictures of these things but to see them in person that was an entirely different experience.

A smile appears on his face as he sees her smile widen as they continue on down the road getting closer and closer to his childhood home. He looks back at the road and recognizes the street they just turned on. "At the end of this road we'll be at my dad's house or my house, however you want to put it."

She looks out the window anxiously, "Really? Is your family nice?"

All of a sudden his excitement lowers, "Actually, I should probably warn you. My father and I don't really get along very well. So if there is fighting....I'm sorry in advance."

Her eyebrow rises, "Why is that?"

He takes a deep breath before explaining, "My father had always had a plan for my brother and I. That we were going to be big time business men like him. Go to the best school: Harvard, Yale or Princeton, one of the Ivy League schools, but I chose not to. I didn't want to go that path. I wanted to become a pilot. So I rebelled, I went my own path. My father didn't like that much."

They finally get to the house, and pull into the driveway. She looks out the window, amazed by how big it is. "Your father lives here?" She points out the window.

He nods, "Yes and I could have had something like this as well but like I said chose to become a pilot."

She looks from the house back to him. She places her hand on his, "John, do not ever think that you did not do the right thing, because you did. If you are right, that your father truly does not believe in you, than it is his loss. If you had followed in your father's footsteps, than you would have never have become a pilot and then you never would have came to the Pegasus Galaxy. Then we never would have met and that would have been a real loss." His smile reappears, "John Sheppard you have saved so many lives in the Pegasus Galaxy—"

"Teyla but I—"

"I know, you are the reason the wraith woke up, but it does not matter, because the wraith may have woken up anyway. And even if they never would have, you saved my people.....you saved me, countless times. Among my people we call someone like you a hero. I mean I have seen you come up against the wraith countless times and never once have you shown fear." She brings her hand up to his cheek, "So if your father does in fact look down on you today just remember that you are a hero in my people's eyes, in my eyes. Do not let him change you."

John leans in and gently kisses Teyla, short and sweet, "Thank you." She smiles a bit. "So, shall we get this over with?"

Her head nods, "Yes."

He gets out of the SUV slowly as he reaches in for his crutches. He was lucky enough that Teyla had foreseen that he would need them right when he got out so she made sure she knew exactly where there were to give to him quickly.

"Thanx Teyla," he says as he takes the crutches from her before she herself exited the SUV.

"You are very welcome John. The doctor did say you needed to take it easy and that is what you will be doing." She says as she walks to the back of the SUV as the back opened automatically due to the button John pressed on his keys. She reaches in and pulls out both of their bags.

"Let me at least take one of the bags," he tries convincing her with puppy dog eyes.

She shakes her head, "I cannot do that, besides the bags are not even that heavy."

He sighs in defeat as they slowly make their way to the door. John adjusts his footing as he reaches over to press the doorbell. He looks over to Teyla to the right of him, "Here it goes."

In about a minute or so the door opens, an older man, who looks to be in his mid forties answers the door, "Well look who it is."

John shakes his head slightly, "Nice to see you too Dave."

"What happened to you?" He asks looking at John's crutches.

"It's nothing I just tripped, no big deal." He shrugs it off.

He decides to drop it as his eyesight then notices a woman standing next to John, "And who is this?" He gestures to Teyla.

"Dave, this is Teyla, Teyla this is Dave, my older brother." John gestures between the Dave and Teyla.

"It is nice to meet you Dave," she smiles slightly.

"Same here," he looks her over noticing her overwhelming beauty. He then looks over at John again, "You haven't brought a girl home since....Nancy I do believe."

Teyla looks at John skeptically, "Nancy?"

He shakes his head before looking at Teyla, "My ex-wife." John quickly changes the subject, "Are you just going to leave us standing out here Dave or are you going to let us in?"

Then he notices Teyla carrying two bags, "May I help you with those bags Teyla?"

She smiles slightly, "That is very kind of you but I am alright."

"So, can we come in or what?" John asks getting tired of standing outside the doorway.

He moves out of the way of the doorway, "Please, come in. Dad, will be pleased to know you are _finally_ home." He says putting a little too much of an emphasis on the word 'finally'.

John let it slide this time, knowing that they would probably get into a huge argument over it. They always did, every time he came home from Afghanistan. He fought with his brother and then with his father. Sometimes he wondered why he ever comes home in the first place. That is probably why it has been so long since he came home.

He shakes the thought when he enters the living room. Looking around the room he sees his three nephews: Joel, Matthew and Daniel, Dave's wife Mary and his father. "Joel, Matt, Danny, what are you guys doing here, don't you three have school?"

"Uncle John!" All three of them shout surprised to see him.

"Okay boys, that enough with the shouting, I'm sure your uncle will explain everything." A woman sitting next to Danny says as she gets up from the chair and makes her way to John. "It's nice to see you alive."

"It's nice to be alive," he says wholeheartedly.

The woman then looks at Teyla and notices she is carrying two bags. She then immediately looks over at John but notices the crutches and turns her attention to Dave. "You let her carry in the bags all by herself. Can't you see your brother is injured and can't help her?" She glared at him.

Dave puts up his hands in defence, "Whoa, Mary I did ask her if she wanted my help and she declined."

Mary faces lightens up somewhat before turning back to Teyla, "Those bags must be so heavy, are you sure you don't want my husband to carry them upstairs for you."

"It is alright, they really aren't that heavy." She says as she shows that they aren't heavy by lifting them up a bit.

John leans over to Teyla and whispers in her right ear, "Just let him take the bags. Mary is very persistent." He pulls back and meets eyes with his.

Mary's eyes widen as she looks between John and Teyla wanting to know what he had just whispered to her, "So?"

Teyla sighs in defeat, "Maybe you are right, they are getting al little heavy." She hands them over to Dave who is standing to the right of John.

"Just put them in the spare bedroom Dave," Mary says without John having a say.

_Typically Sheppard family, 'don't ask just do.'_ John thought as they made their way to the couch across from another couch that seated his nephews and his sister-in-law Mary. To the left of them was his father sitting on another couch.

Instead of waiting for someone to ask again John comes out and says, "Everyone this is Teyla, Teyla this is my Dad...." He points to the man sitting the left of them on the couch.

"You can call me Patrick." John's father says without waiting for John to even say his name.

She nods her as John continues on, "Over there is my sister-in-law Mary, Dave's wife." He point over to the women who is now sitting next to his nephews. "And those are my nephews: Joel who is sixteen, Matt who is twelve and Danny who is ten." They all nod as John says their name out loud.

"It is very nice to meet all of you," Teyla says with a smile on her face.

Without warning Joel speaks up, "Uncle John, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure buddy, what is it?" John asks excited that his nephew was the one talking to him and not his father who is probably thinking about all the things he wants to yell at him about.

Nervously he sits up in his seat, "Well I know its last minute but I was wondering if you would come to my Career Day?"

John leans forward as well in his seat being careful not to knock his crutches to the floor. "I don't know Joel. I mean I came back here with Teyla, she wouldn't have—"

Joel cuts in without letting John finish, "You could bring her along. I'm sure my teacher wouldn't mind."

Just then Dave gets back from upstairs and walks into the room, walking to sit by his father he asks, "Bring who along where?"

John looks at Dave, "Joel was just asking me to go to his Career Day."

Shocked, Dave looks over at his son, "I thought I was going to your Career Day? Why all of a sudden do you want your uncle John?"

"No offense dad, but your job is kind of boring and I didn't think Uncle John was going to be back before Career Day. I guess I was wrong, so I thought I would ask him, you're not mad are you?" He asks a little worried his dad might be disappointed.

Patrick places his hand on Dave's left shoulder when he sees him cross his arms before looking over at his grandson, "No, of course he isn't, he's just not used to....." He gestures his fingers in a way that tells Joel to come closer. "He's not used to...rejection." He whispers loud enough for everyone to hear but quiet enough to make it looks like he's trying to hide it.

This makes everyone in the room laugh except for Dave who was feeling a bit like an idiot and John who is somewhat confused with what just happened. _Had my father just made some kind of a joke?_ He pondered not sure if he had heard him correctly. Yet clearly he did, because not only his nephews are laughing at their dad but so is Teyla. _Why is he acting so odd?_

Once the laughing at Dave's expense ends, Joel asks John again, "So will you come?"

John looks over at Teyla and she smiles as she nods slightly, "Sure, when is it?" He looks back at Joel.

"Um, see that's the thing, it's tomorrow." He cringes a bit waiting for the blow of anger from John. He know if he would have told his father something like this so late he would flip out so that should mean John would to right?

He thinks about it for a moment before answering, "Okay. I guess we will be at the high school tomorrow at what time Joel?"

Joel wasn't even sure he heard his uncle correctly, "Did you just say yes without hesitation?"

"Ya, why, did you want me to say 'no'? I can, if you want to take your dad instead." John cracked a bit of a smile as he said that comment.

Joel shakes his head, "I'd really like it if you came. It starts at 2:30pm but I'm not up or...I mean you won't be up until 3:00pm. You can choose if you want to be there for the whole thing or only some of it. Oh and it's in room 235, that Mrs. Harold's classroom."

"Wow, Mrs. Harold still works there?" He nods his head. "I had her for a teacher at that school as well."

"Cool," Joel says excited to know that he and John share something in common.

Dave looks at his watch as he stands up, "Look at the time we better get going. It's almost lunch and if you boys want to have your friends over this afternoon, it'd be better to get them now so you have all afternoon to play." All three of them whine, "Hey, just a few minutes ago, you were all begging to leave."

"Ya but dad, that was before Uncle John came back," Matt says to his dad.

He looks sternly at his kids, "I doesn't matter we have to go. You don't get to have your friends over much so you should take advantage of this."

They sigh in defeat, "Fine."

"Now run along and get your stuff together. We don't to leave anything here like last time." He says as they leave the room. Then he turns to John and sticks out his hand, "Nice seeing you John."

John shakes it, "You too."

He begins to stand up but his brother puts a hand up, "Don't worry about getting up, dad will walk me o the door." He nods to Teyla, "Nice to meet you again Teyla."

"Nice to meet you Dave," she says with a smile as Dave and Patrick leave the room.

Teyla then looks over at John, "They were not that bad. I do not see why you were so worried before."

"That isn't how my father usually acts. Something must be going on here and I'm going to find out what it is." He says as he leans back against the couch.

* * *

_What did you think of John's family? Please Review and tell me what you thought of this chapter. :D_


	10. Truth

_Àuthor`s Note: Sorry it`s been so long guys. Hopefully from now on I will get back into a better routine of posting because after the next two chapters of John and Teyla, things will start to get more and more interesting. Enjoy this chapter. _

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Chapter 10 – Truth

Teyla looks over at John confused by his comment, "What do you mean? He seemed perfectly normal to me. In my culture that is exactly how a parent should act. From what I have seen of your culture, that is exactly how a parent should act. Are you saying that is not how he acts?"

He shakes his head slightly, "No, not at all. He's usually much more stern and serious. I have never heard him make a joke like that. Not since....." His eyesight turns away to look at something else in the room.

She places her left hand on his shoulder as she sees him pull away slightly, "Since when John?"

He looks back at her clearly holding back emotion, "Since my mom died when I was eleven. I know that my mom's death hurt him but it hurt all of us. To see him act this way, it's just.....odd.....and refreshing at the same time." He said with a little bit of hope in his voice.

"Maybe he is trying to change."

"I don't think so," he continues shaking his head. "Like I said he hasn't been this way for a _long _time. There is no reason for him to all of a sudden change. It's not like him. I will find out why." He says determined.

Patrick walks back into the living room all cheerful, "Alright, I was thinking hamburgers for lunch, what do you say? Sound good?"

John smiles weakly, "Sure dad, sounds good."

Teyla just smiles as Patrick leaves the room heading into the kitchen. She then leans over to John, "I think you are over-reacting John. Your father seems happy you are home. I mean he is cooking for us."

John shakes his head more as he gets up from the couch. "I don't think so. He's hiding something, and I'm going to find out what it is." He turns to reach for his crutches but she gets up holding them and hands them to him as he gets up.

"What if you father is just being nice John?" Teyla asks concerned he may be acting wrongly towards the situation unfolding in front of them.

He looks back at her after he gets his crutches all situated under his arms, "I know this is hard for you to understand since you came from such a great place. Even though your family was taken early, you had a great mom and dad I'm sure."

"I did, but what does that have to do with any-"

"Teyla," he cuts her off. "My childhood wasn't like yours, my father wasn't always around. He was always busy; he didn't have time to play catch or play video games....... or even talk. So when I say that he's acting odd, I mean it and I know it. You're just going to have to trust me okay?"

"Alright," her smile fades a bit.

He leans in and kisses her lightly on the cheek, "Thank You." He then turns and slowly heads for the kitchen.

Teyla follows him as he leads the way to the kitchen.

"Where is your father anyways?" She asks as they enter the kitchen to find no Patrick.

John smiles again, "He's in the backyard probably cooking the burgers on the BBQ. Come on, I'll show you." He uses one of his crutches to motion her to follow him.

He opens the door and lets her go first into their HUGE backyard. "This is your backyard. There's so much room." She says in awe as she looks at all the many things around her.

Walking outside the door you can see the pool and Jacuzzi down a few steps to the left of the door. The barbeque just outside the door, a nice stainless steel one built right into a unit outside with nice marble surfaces for the food. And off into the distance is a big open field, nice shiny green grass, a huge flowerbed, with lots of flowers.

"Oh there you two are," Patrick announces as he notices them walking up behind him. Teyla looking around like a kid on Christmas.

"Are the burgers almost done?" He asks politely.

"They sure are. Since the two of you were talking away I was out here cooking, I think they are almost done. In a few minutes they will be. Do you think you and Teyla could handle finishing the burgers while I go set up the table?" He asks cheerful as ever.

A few moments later John responds, "Um, sure I guess."

"Great," he says excited, "then I'll see the both of you in there in a few minutes." With that he walks back into the house.

John stares back at him still somewhat confused by his behaviour. _What is he doing? This isn't dad. _

"John!"

John jumps out of his trance. "What?"

"The burgers," she nods to the burgers ahead of him about to burn. "They are going to burn soon."

"Oh geez," he flips them a few more times before deciding they are done. After placing them all on the plate Teyla is holding they head back inside the house.

Inside they find his dad making a salad. John looks at this with confusion written on his face. _Now this is definitely unlike him. What is going on around here?_

"The burgers are done?" Teyla nods. "Excellent. Now I just need to finish the salad and we will be ready to eat. How does that sound John?" He looks at his son with a smile on his face.

John's face starts as a smile but quickly changes as he has finally hit the top of his tolerance for his father's act. "Okay, what the hell are you doing?"

His father's smile fades somewhat but is still present, "What are you talking about John? I'm making a salad for lunch."

"_You NEVER,_ make salads! _NEVER_ in _MY_ entire life have you_ EVER_ made salads." His voice filled with anger and emotions as he challenges his father. Wanting to know why his father has changed so drastically since he last saw him.

"Of course I have son, that's what a parent does, he cares for his children." He says calmly trying to get John to be calm too.

He shakes his head, "Don't _'son'_ me. _You_ haven't acted like a parent to me in years. Ever since mom died, you have _NEVER_ been a parent to me. Why now? Why now do you choose to_ actually _care about me? To care about what _I _want to eat, what_ I_ want to do?!" Tears begin to build in his eyes but he holds them back. "I just want to know why? Why the drastic change? Why now? Why not back then when I was still a kid?" He says a little calmer than before.

Patrick's face looks down, "You _really _want to know why?" He looks back up at John.

Teyla looks between Patrick and John wondering if she should leave or stay. _What if my leaving pulls them out of their moment? _She ponders coming to the decision that if she in fact leaves they may never speak again.

"Yes, I do," John answers keeping his eyes on his father.

Patrick puts down the spoons he was about to use to mix the salad and turns to face John completely. "You have no idea what it is like to have two people from the Air Force come and tell me that my son was killed in action." Tears begin to form in his eyes as he remembers that dreaded day....

_DING-DONG_

"_Coming," Patrick yells as he nears the front door. "Who could that possibly be?" He asks himself right before he opens the door. _

_Two men dressed in blue, Air Force uniforms Patrick assumes because only his son John joined the Air Force. "Patrick Sheppard?" The one on the right asked. _

_He nods, "Yes, that's me. Can I help you?" _

"_We have some bad news." The man paused for a moment as he watched Patrick. "It's your son, John Sheppard."_

_He looks at them curiously, "What has my son done? Is he in trouble?"_

_The two men shake their heads, "No sir. We are sorry to inform you that he's been killed in action."_

_The powerful and strong Patrick Sheppard is speechless as he stares at the men before him. They go on to tell him what happened. That he lost control of his chopper and crashed, there were no survivors. _

"_My son.....is dead." Emotions he hasn't felt since his wife died fill him as tears form in his eyes. "__**My**__ son...." A tear falls from his cheek. _

A tear falls from his cheek as he looks at John. "After that I regretted everything that I done to you. The way I treated you, the way I looked down on your choice of career. I even learned that you're a Lieutenant Colonel now." He pauses for a moment as he looks away from John to wipe his eyes not wanting John to see him cry.

John sees this and moves closer to his father, "Dad, it's not your fault. If I had only—"

Patrick abruptly looks back at him, "No! Don't blame yourself. When we both know this is my fault. I stopped being a father to you a long time ago. And because of it we stopped talking. John you.....you hated me so much—"

"Dad I don't hate-"

He puts his finger up to stop him from continuing, "You hated me so much you didn't even bother to tell me you went up a rank in your military career. I had to find out from the guy telling me you were _dead_."A tear fell down John's cheek as he listened to his father talk.

Tears begin to fall down Teyla's cheeks as she watched them get everything out of their system. Emotions of sadness that she felt when she had thought John was dead as well filled her in this moment as she listened to Patrick speak. _He does care for John._

Patrick looked back down at the counter, "Anyways I vowed from that day that I would be a better father to David and to my grand kids." He looks back at John. "When I got that phone call saying that you were alive, that they had found you, that you weren't dead, I vowed to change. I wanted to be a better person to you because you deserve it. You should _want_ to come home from Afghanistan not stay there and fight."

He turns to leave the room but John stops him by touching his shoulder something he hasn't down since he was a little kid. Patrick stops and turns back around to face John. "Dad...." a smile appears as he remembers a memory when he was a kid and his father would play baseball with him....

"_Okay John, I'm going to throw this underhand, nice and slow. Keep your eye on the ball, good grip on the bat, do as I showed you and just follow through. Ready?" He asks. _

"_I'm ready dad," John smiles excited that this is going to be the one he hits real far. _

_Patrick swings back as though he's going to throw it hard but then slowly tosses toward a 9-year old John waiting for the ball. His eyes trained on the ball watching it come closer and closer and then he swings the bat as hard as he can. All that can be heard is a faint 'tink' and the ball goes whizzing past Patrick in a blink of an eye. _

_They both watch it fly until it lands on the ground way out in the field. _

"_Did you see that dad? It went really far." He yells smiling from ear to ear. _

_His dad looks back at him with a smile as well, "It sure did kiddo. Do you want to see if you can hit it farther this time?" _

_John nods exuberantly. _

His smile widens at the memory, "Dad, it doesn't matter what you did in the past, what matters is that your trying to change. From the way you acted with Joel earlier, it reminded me of the fun we had while I was a kid."

His dad's smile widens as John comes closer and places his crutches against the island before opening his arms. Patrick smiles before putting his arms around his dad and hugging him. A moment they haven't shared for years. It was something they were never going to take for granted ever again.

A few moments go by before they pull apart. His dad slaps John on his shoulder, "So Lieutenant-Colonel huh?" John grins in realization that his father actually accepts him now. "Even though I never showed it in the past...I have to say son I am very proud of you."

"Thanx dad, it really means a lot to me for you to say that." John then looks from his dad over to Teyla still standing in the room with tear stained cheeks. Feeling concerned he slowly walks around the island using his crutches to the side she was on, "Teyla, are you alright?"

She smiles, "Yes, I am fine."

He lifts up his hand to wipe away her tears on each cheek, "Then why are you crying?"

"This moment just made me think about the moment I found out you were dead. Trust me I will be fine. I know you are alive and well and there is nothing to worry about." She smiles hoping he will leave it at that.

He catches what she is saying and pushes it aside, "Okay." He looks back over to his dad, "So dad is the salad ready yet?"

"Ya it is son, we can all go eat in the dining room." He says as they all head through the swinging door into the dining room.

*********

Conversations begin with things that have been happening with Patrick over the years until they began to get into things with John and even Teyla.

"So Teyla, you never mentioned where you came from?" He asks curious to find out where his son's girlfriend is from.

Teyla looks at him for a moment before John jumped in, "Actually that's classified dad. We aren't allowed to talk about it. Let's just say she lives far away."

His dad smiles, _that's an understatement._ He decides to change the subject, "Hey John I read in the newspaper today that the amusement is open today. They only have a few of their rides working, but I noticed that your favourite ride is one of the ones that is open. You should take Teyla. I bet she'd have fun."

She looks to her right at John confused, "Amusement park?"

He looks at her again, "Do you remember when I told you about Ferris' Wheels?" She nods. "Well that is where a Ferris wheel is, at an Amusement park. Do you want to go see one in person?"

She nods excited, "That sounds like fun John."

*********

Teyla and John walk side by side towards the ride, he had told her about many times. He even showed her pictures but to see it in person. Wow, it truly was much better to physically see it. To walk closer and see how much bigger it is to her.

John looks over at her mesmerized by how much she is enjoying this. She was like a little kid on Christmas morning.

Finally they arrive at the line-up for the ride. Lucky for them it wasn't that long and they got on quite quickly. He sits down first and Teyla gives the operator his crutches before she joins him. The nice woman who is operating the ride lowers the bar so they don't fall out. She then steps back and presses a button....and they were off.

She looks out at the world in front of her, mesmerized by everything around her. Almost not believing she was really seeing it. All of a sudden she turns to John, "Thank you John."

He smiles at her, "For what?"

"For bringing me to Earth, this experience has been wonderful." She smiles in such a way that makes his heart melt.

Without hesitation he lifts his right arm and places it around her. "You know I just had a thought." She looks at him curiously. "Do you want to go on a date with me Teyla?" His smile widens, "Dinner and a movie."

Her smile widens even more, "Of course. I would love that. Where would we go?" Just then the Ferris wheel stops. "What is happening?"

"More people must have come to get on the ride." He looks down somewhat but can't see anything. "We'll be moving in no time." He leans back against the seat and looks out at the view in front of them. "I was thinking we go to a restaurant and then go to a movie theatre so you can experience the full movie experience....that is unless you want to rent a movie. We could always do that."

"I say we rent a movie John, that way you do not have to worry about your ankle hurting more than it probably already does."

"Teyla I'm fine, if you want to go to the movies we can-"

She cuts him off, "John, if our relationship is going to work we need to consider what is going on with each other and not just one's self. I know you have been in pain, I have noticed, so if this date of ours is to be a day to remember we should do it where both of us are comfortable." She smiles as she leans into him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Alright, if that is what you want."

"It is," she says looking out at the blue sky around them.

He rests his head on her head, "Then maybe we should make this date completely at the house, dinner and all. We could pick up some food for dinner and go to Blockbuster to pick up some movies. Sound good?"

"What about popcorn?" She asks shocked he never mentioned her favourite Earth snack.

He smirks, "Of course we will get a bunch of snack foods too when we go to the store, including popcorn for you because I know how much you like popcorn."

She smiles at his comment.

From then on they sat there and stared out at the blue sky together taking in the moment, both of them secretly hoping that the ride would end soon so they can get on with their date.

* * *

_So what did you think. Tell me what you thought of this chapter. Please REVIEW. :D_

_--SGAFirenity_


	11. He Knows

_Author's Note: Hey Guys. This chapter for some reason was really hard for me to write. I couldn't get it the way I wanted. Plus it's shorter than usual._

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Chapter 11 – He Knows

"John, why did we get DVDs again? Does your father not have any?" Teyla asks walking into the house with John following behind with his crutches.

He closes the door, "No he does. He just only has old movies, not any of the current ones."

Just then his father walks into the room, "What don't I have?" Patrick asks as he follows them into the kitchen, picking up some of the bags they were carrying with him.

Once John gets into the kitchen, he sets his crutches against the island and walks around it to one of the cupboards to get the specific pan he needs.

"John, did Dr. Keller not tell you that you need to use your crutches all the time?" She looks at him a bit confused as he turns around to face her putting down the pan he's holding.

"My ankle is fine Teyla. I really don't need the crutches." He says trying to convince her.

Patrick steps in, "John has never been very good at following rules anyways."

John stops putting hamburger into the pan to look at his father, "Thanx Dad." He says sarcastically.

"You're welcome, now what were you saying about my DVD collection?" He asks walking around to the side John is on to help. While Teyla sits across from them on one of the stools watching them talk.

"That you don't have a very good DVD selection. That's why we went to Blockbuster to rent some better ones to watch." He says looking over at Teyla, which in turn she smiles.

"You haven't been here for a while. How do you know for sure that I don't have what you rented?" He looks over at the bag trying to see what they rented.

"Oh so you have the new _Transformers Movie _and_ The Legend of Zorro_?" John looks at him thinking he's right.

Patrick thinks for a moment....

After a few minutes he realizes he doesn't have those movies. "Hmm, actually I..." He notices something on the island. "Wait a minute. Hamburger Helper, you bought Hamburger Helper for your date." He looks at John like he's an idiot.

"What, Hamburger Helper is good. Teyla is really going to enjoy it."

Patrick looks at John and thinks about what he said, "You may have a point there Teyla will enjoy it." He looks over at Teyla and smiles.

She returns the gesture with another smile.

A few minutes later John adds the noodles for the hamburger helper. Patrick begins to notice the awkward silence, one that pretty much says that they want him to leave. "Well I have some work that I should probably get done." He walks closer to the entryway to the kitchen, "Enjoy your date." Then he walks out.

As he heads upstairs he remembers what he was going to tell John but then he hears them begin to talk again, _I guess I'll tell John later. He wouldn't want me to disturb his date again._ With that he heads back up to his office to finish some paperwork.

*********

"This is very good John, why have we not had any of this back....._home_," she asks awkwardly not sure if he got what she was saying.

He did though, "I don't know. I should suggest it to Dr. Weir when we get back." He takes a few more bites, finishing off his plate.

A few more bites later Teyla also finishes her plate off.

John gets up from his chair and grabs both of their plates before taking them to the dishwasher. "Would you like to put the popcorn in the microwave Teyla since I'm sure you want some?"

Her eyes light up at the name 'popcorn', "Of course, I shall do that." She gets up from her chair and grabs the box of popcorn. After opening it she puts one bag into the microwave.

John turns around to face her after cleaning the rest of the dishes, "Which movie would you like to watch first Teyla?"

"It does not matter. You are more familiar with what they are about than I am. So you can decide." She says as the microwave dings.

He walks over to her as she pulls out the popcorn, "We're going to need more than one bag of popcorn to last us two movies." He puts in two bags in the microwave.

*********

Minutes later they finally have all the popcorn cooked and in one big bowl, drinks in hand; they head for the entertainment room downstairs.

In the entertainment room is a fifty inch flat-screen TV in front of a black corner couch. A glass table lies in front of the couch for their drinks.

Teyla sits down right in the corner with the big bowl of popcorn as John sets their drinks down on the table before putting the_ Transformers _movie into the DVD-player.

He walks back and sits to the right of Teyla, "This should be a good movie. '_Transformers'_ was another one of my favourite shows to watch when I was a kid."

The DVD menu comes up and John clicks _play_ on the remote before the movie began.

Once the movie began, Teyla and John began to eat the popcorn, occasionally drinking from their pops on the table.

The movie was better than John could have ever imagined. Not only were the graphics and special effects amazing but the actors made it even better. They made it seem like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime were really characters, physically there, not just CGI. It was incredible.

Not to mention Teyla was riveted, hanging on every moment. Will Sam get away from Megatron? Will he succeed in his mission to save Earth?

The movie finally ends and John is stunned at how amazing the movie really was. It was much better than he first thought it to be.

Next movie, John put in _The Legend of Zorro_. Teyla sets the empty bowl on the table in front of them a few minutes into the movie.

About a half hour of the movie goes by and John notices Teyla fidgeting, moving around as if she can't get comfortable.

He looks over at her, "Can't get comfortable?"

She shakes her head, "No."

He thinks for a moment, "Here I have an idea, scoot over." Teyla moves over as he said. John grabs the pillow sitting beside him against the arm of the couch before moving to sit in the corner of the couch.

"Now what?" she looks at him curiously.

He gets all situated before placing the pillow he was holding against his left leg. "Lie against this. Trust me it'll be comfortable."

She does as he said and lies down, placing her head on the pillow against his leg. He then grabs the blanket on the couch and places it on her. "Thank You John."

"You're very welcome."

About fifteen to twenty minutes later John could tell Teyla fell asleep. He leans down and kisses her on the cheek before looking back at the movie.

Just as Zorro was unmasked in the movie, John's father walked into the room and sat down next to John. "Good movie?"

"It actually is. I'm kind of surprised at how good these two movies have been. How was your paperwork?" John asks only because he knows his father cares about those kinds of things.

"Not very exciting, that's why I came down to watch the movie with you two but," he looks over John and sees a sleeping Teyla, "Looks like it's just you and me watching the movie."

He looks at Teyla's sleeping form again, "She fell asleep some time ago. That's alright though, we had a long day."

"I bet," Patrick said quietly to himself.

"What?" John asks not quite hearing what he said.

He looks at the movie, "Oh nothing. What's happening in the movie?"

"Zorro was just unmasked in front of his wife and son."

They continue watching the movie when his father finally gets the courage to say what he's wanted to say to John earlier, "So, how has your job been? I bet it's been keeping you busy."

"Ya, it's been good. Flying choppers has always been my dream." _Flying jumpers is much more fun though. _He thinks to himself as he looks back at the movie.

"You only fly choppers? I would have thought there would have been something more unique where you work." Patrick says trying to slightly hint to what he is trying to say.

John looks away from the movie and at his father, "Okay dad your being all mysterious again. What's going on?"

He takes a deep breath, "I know the truth son."

"Truth about what?" he asks not sure of what his father is telling him.

Patrick also looks away from the movie and at John, "About Atlantis."

"Atlantis doesn't exist dad. You should know that. Ever since I was a kid you have told me it wasn't real. That a Greek philosopher named Plato made up myths and that included Atlantis." John looks him in the eyes hoping he convinced him.

He smiles, "That may be so but I was wrong. Atlantis does exist."

"Oh ya, how would you know dad?" He challenges him wanting to know exactly how much he knows.

"I'll tell you how much I know." John nods waiting. "When I was told that you were killed in action, they told me you lost control of your chopper. At first I believed them, but once I got curious and wanted to know everything about the crash they wouldn't give me anything just that you _lost control_. That's it. I told them to tell me the truth or else I would tell the world that the military is lying to us. And being a powerful business man I could have convinced the world too. So they had me sign a confidentiality agreement. Then they told me the truth about Atlantis. What you have been doing there. Not only the fact that Atlantis is real but that its in another galaxy." He looks over at Teyla. "When you came in the room with Teyla and had told me that it was classified as to where she came from I knew she had to be from the Pegasus Galaxy. Was I right?"

He nods, "Yes, you are. Her people were actually the first race of people we met from the Pegasus Galaxy."

"Her people?" he asks raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, _her_ people. She's the leader of the Athosians. They're from a planet called _Athos. _However right now her people are living on another planet they named _New Athos_ but Teyla lives on Atlantis helping to fight the wraith. Did they tell you about the wraith?" He asks not really wanting to explain them.

"They suck your life from you through their hand correct?" He looks at his hand.

"Yes, for the past three years now we have been trying to find a way to destroy the wraith."

Patrick looks back at the movie and notices its playing through the credits. "Oh wow, the movie is over." He then looks back at John wanting to ask one more thing. "What is Atlantis like?"

"It's incredible dad. You'd really like it there. The architecture is amazing. Maybe one day I will be able to take you there." He says with a smile.

He returns the smile, "I would like that son. Well you should probably get Teyla to bed. Would you like some help getting her up there?"

John gets up slowly not to wake up Teyla and looks over at his father, "No I think I can..." Then he moves a bit and feels a bit of a twinge in his ankle. "Actually, on second thought sure. I just realized that throughout that entire movie I never moved my ankle very much. It's a bit stiff. "

"No problem son," he makes his way over to Teyla. After moving the blanket he gently lifts her up.

*********

Once up in the spare bedroom, Patrick sets Teyla down gently on the bed. He then looks back at John, "Do you need anything else son?"

John looks around the room and sees a couch. Why there would be a couch in the spare bedroom, John has no idea but decides that it should work. "No I think we'll be fine."

"Well alright, goodnight son," he says before leaving the room.

"Goodnight," John says as he leaves.

He then walks over to the side Teyla was lying on and lifts the covers he moves her gently under them before sitting down on the side. After staring at her for a few minutes he leans down and gently kisses her on the forehead before getting up and changing into his PJ pants. He then walks over to the couch and gets it all set up with a pillow and blanket before turning off the light and heading to bed.

* * *

_Please Review. I'd really like to know what you guys all thought of this. _


	12. The Hive Ship

**Author's Note: Sorry it's been FOREVER guys. I was involved with too many thing in December like the Secret Santa, Secret Elf challenge on LJ, and then an Advent Calendar on GateWorld. Don't get me wrong they were fun but because of it I got away from writing for this fic which was a bummer. And then most recently I've began shipping Callie/Arizona from Grey's Anatomy, so lately my brain has been going crazy coming up with fic ideas and such. I literally had to force myself to write this chapter. It's much shorter than I normally write, I'm sorry for that. I hope that the next chapter will be better and that it comes sooner than this one. But you never know. I have a Grey's Anatomy fic I'll be posting soon, so I'll be writing two fics but that one is supposed to be a short one so it shouldn't take up much time but then again this story was only supposed to be 8 chapters so you never know what could happen. **

**Anyways, enough of my rambling, please enjoy this chapter. **

* * *

**Chapter 12 – The Hive Ship**

Teyla wakes up the next day feeling refreshed and ready for a new day. Looking to her right she doesn't see John, not really shocking. She gets up on her elbows and sees him lying, very uncomfortably on the couch. _Such a gentleman, _she thinks with a smile on her face.

Moving the comforter and sheets to the side, she gets out of the bed and sets her feet down on the comfy carpet. She then heads over to John lying on the couch.

Once she gets there she sits down on the edge of the couch and stars at John for a minute before leaning down and kissing him on the forehead.

He begins to stir in his sleep.

"Morning John," she says as his eyes open.

"Morning," he says looking up at Teyla. "How did you sleep?"

"Wonderfully, you don't look like you had a very good sleep however." She notices the blanket spread all over the place.

"I slept fine," he looks from the messing blanket back up to her as he sits up on the couch.

She looks him over as he sits up, his hair messier than usual, and his face a bit scruffy because he hasn't shaved yet and his shirt, well his shirt showed all of his muscles. His shirt looked particularly nice with it slightly up showing his abs somewhat.

He waves a hand in front of Teyla's face and she snaps out of her trance, "What?"

"What are you doing?" He asks straightening his shirt.

"Just admiring," she says with a smile.

He grins back raising his eyebrow, "Oh ya."

She nods grinning back as she scoots a little closer to him.

Leaning closer, he gently places his right hand on her cheek, "You're so beautiful you know that." He says admiring her every feature.

She slightly smiles at this as her gaze reaches his lips just before leaning the rest of the way and capturing his lips with hers. She lifts up her hands and runs her fingers gently through his dark locks as she tries to deepen the kiss further wanting to feel more of him. To be as close to him as possible trying to make it known that she has loved him for a _long_ time, longer than she would ever admit.

From the way he is reacting to her hunger, she gets the feeling he feels the same way. That he too has been hiding his feelings for years.

Moments later, John pulls back as he realizes she is in his lap now, between kisses he spouts out, "I think....I think we.....need to.....slow....down."

She pulls back from him and regains some of her composure, "Right, you're......probably......right." She says between breaths.

He looks up into her eyes as she continues to stare at him not wanting to lose this moment. "Um, Teyla, you're going to have to get off of me."

She snaps out of her trance once again, "Right," and gets off of him agonizingly slow making John want to so badly pull her back on him and continue what they started.

He however held his emotions in strict control as he watched her grab some of her things and walk into the bathroom.

He exhales deeply before practically jumping off the couch in excitement.

*********

Fifteen to twenty minutes later John and Teyla make their way down the stairs and head for the kitchen for some breakfast. Well more like lunch because it was a little past noon.

"Hey dad," John walked in more cheerful than usual.

"Wow, you two finally got up, I was wondering if I was ever going to see the both of you." He winked at John as Teyla walked by him.

John smiled at his wink, "Ya well we did stay up late for that movie. It's not really that shocking that we slept for so long."

"Uh-huh, sure," he smirks thinking about what they were probably doing up there.

John shakes his head slightly.

"So I was wondering what your cover was for Teyla when you go to the school?" Patrick asks quickly changing the subject.

Teyla sits down in the stool in beside the stool John is standing near with a glass of orange juice just as the doorbell rings. John looks curiously at his dad, "Are you expecting anyone dad?"

He shakes his head, "No."

"I wonder who that could be then," John turns to head for the door.

Once there he opens it to reveal two men in blue Air Force uniforms. "Colonel Sheppard, may we come in please?"

He looks at them somewhat bewildered as he moves out of the way, "Of course, come in."

They walk past the colonel taking off their caps as they do so.

"So what is the problem guys, why are you here?" John asks wanting to get right to the reason they decided to interrupt his lunch.

Just then Teyla and Patrick walk into the room to see what is going on, "What is going on John?" Teyla asks as she looks at the men confused.

He looks back at Teyla, "I just asked that same question to these two. Now tell us, why are you here because we're going back to _Atlantis_," he whispers, "tomorrow. Can't this wait until then?"

One of the men shakes his head, "Actually it can't sir. You have to go back today. In fact, both of you must come with us right now. We will brief you on the way."

They turn to head back to the door when John stops them, "Wait a minute, you can't just come in here and tell me I have to leave without giving me a reason. Now until you do, _we_ aren't going anywhere." He makes an emphasis on the 'we' of the conversation referring to him and Teyla.

The other man nods his head, "Very well. Is this place secure, are we able to talk here?" He asks wanting to be sure no one is listening.

"Of course it is," John answers without thinking about it.

The two men look at each other for a moment before one of them finally speaks, "Atlantis has picked up a Hive ship in orbit of one of the moons of M6X – 412, the planet better known to you as Hyruun." He says in a serious tone.

John still looks at the men a little confused, "And Atlantis needs us to come back for that. Can't Dr. Weir handle that, it's just one Hive Ship."

"Yes sir but there is something different about it. Ever since Atlantis detected it, it hasn't moved a bit and so Dr. Weir wants to send a team to check it out. The problem is..."

The John catches on to what he is saying, "You need someone to fly the Hive Ship if there is no wraith aboard. So you need Teyla, is that what I'm getting?"

He nods, "Yes sir."

John looks over at Teyla and his father, when Patrick speaks before John could say anything, "I'll cover you for Career Day. Don't worry son, you and Teyla go save the Pegasus Galaxy. It's what you do best from what I've heard."

Teyla walks closer and places a reassuring hand on his arm, "It is our duty to protect my galaxy, and we have to go back. Besides, you have friends on Hyruun. I know you John. You would not forgive yourself if something happened to that planet when you knew you could have done something about it."

He looks down at Teyla before looking back at the two Ari Force men, "Alright, we'll leave ASAP."

*********

Hours later, after countless check points to make sure they weren't brining back any diseases unknown to the Pegasus Galaxy, they arrived in Atlantis. Greeting them was none other than Drs. Weir and McKay.

"Finally, you're back, what took you so long?" McKay looks at them a little puzzled as to why it took them so long to get home. "I figured you would have left as soon as you saw those Air Force guys."

McKay turns around as to not waste anymore time. Sheppard on the other hand slapped him on the back of the head, "Gee Rodney, we got here didn't we."

"Ouch, what was that for?" He rubbed the back of his head.

"Maybe next time you will think be calling me slow, when it was _you_ who put in all the safety protocols to get back and forth to Earth and Pegasus." He glares at Rodney knowing he won that fight.

Rodney just glares as he turns back to the stairs that lead to the control room. As they get up there a few guys walk past them to pick up Teyla and Sheppard's luggage. Both Teyla and John thank the men for taking them as they follow Rodney over to one of the control panels.

"Okay, so about a day or so we detected the hive ship flying towards Hyruun but it didn't make it, it stopped at the moon. Which is quite puzzling because wraith don't stop near planets or moons, for that matter, that don't have people on them."

Rodney continues on rambling as John just stares at the screen in front of him. Completely taken over by the screen he completely phases out Rodney completely.

A few minutes later he snaps out of it as Rodney begins to freak out, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute, the Hive ship," he looks down at the key controls and presses a few buttons.

"What is it?" John asks slightly concerned, wondering what the heck is going on. Rodney looks from the monitor to the screen and mumbles incoherent words. "Rodney, use your words. What is happening to the hive ship?"

"This doesn't make sense," he looks back at the screen bewildered.

John is getting angry, "Rodney!?"

He snaps out of his panic mode and looks at John, Teyla, Weir and now Ronon who just showed up. "What? Oh right. Unless these machines are mal-functioning, which I highly doubt, the hive ship is heading towards M6X – 412, better known as Hyruun at this very moment."

They all look at Rodney confused before all five of them look back at the screen.

* * *

**COMMENTS/REVIEWS Always welcome **

**SGAFirenity**


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